James Bannon (Fine Gael)

The remaining six seats would be elected on the same day to a higher education constituency. This independence from Dáil elections would underpin the unique nature of the Seanad as a deliberative body that takes a different perspective from the Dáil, while at the same time complementing it. There should be no attempt to reform the Seanad at the expense of bringing it into confrontation with the Dáil. I compliment the sub-committee on ensuring that this will not happen. I gather from the report that under the proposed system of reform, the Seanad would be independent of the Dáil and there would be no confrontation between both Houses.

It is important that the Seanad should not be seen to act, in any way, as a carbon copy of the Dáil. Its function should be the examination of Bills and while many people feel that is so, its role has been somewhat chequered in recent years. Senators often had to wait for long periods for Bills to come form the Lower House. I am glad that during her current term of office, the Leader has initiated more Bills here than ever in the history of the House. I compliment her on having done so.

The abolition of the party Whip system should be considered, thus allowing Members to act and vote independently. A system whereby Members could freely state personal opinions would be preferable to the constraints of the Whip system where Members toe the party line. We should be independent because we all have our views on various issues. During the debate on the legislation to abolish the dual mandate, a majority on the Government benches felt it was a bad idea.