Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

I warmly welcome the motion that has been tabled by the Labour Party Senators. I thank Senator Tuffy for raising this issue regularly in the past few months. I thank the Leader of the House for giving this matter such a positive airing when it has been highlighted on the Order of Business.

I recall the first day the new Seanad met after the last election, almost four and a half years ago. The over-riding concern of all the contributions made by Members on that day was the need to deal conclusively with the issue of Seanad reform. It was suggested that all the previous reports should be put to one side so that we could get on with the job. I compliment the Leader of the House on her tenacity in driving the process on an all-party basis, thereby allowing us to publish the report. Like other Senators, I have been disappointed by the pace of the implementation of the report.

A fundamental question, which is as relevant to the current Government as it would be to any other Government comprising any other collection of parties, needs to be addressed in any debate on Seanad reform. Is the Government of the day prepared to take on this issue and to resolve it? We should admit that the same questions would be asked if Fine Gael and any other Opposition parties were on the other side of the House. We need to confront this fundamental question. I do not think we can deal with this on a piecemeal basis. The compromises which were reflected in the Seanad reform document represent the way forward in the reform agenda, broadly speaking. We are facing a dilemma because we know that nothing will happen in the tail end of a Parliament. I hope that whoever is in government after the next election can get on with allowing this House to reform itself. I estimate that at least 80% of the contributions which were made on the first day the Seanad met after the last election were in support of the reform of the Seanad.

The Minister, Deputy Roche, referred to the public consultation process, which was one of the most positive things that was done during the Seanad reform efforts. Senators were involved in the public consultation process over the course of a week. I was quite astonished by the number of written, oral and e-mail submissions which were received from groups and individuals which were interested in the process of Seanad reform. When we placed public advertisements in the newspapers I thought nobody would reply and I was astonished by the response that was received.