Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

It does not arise. I apologise for trespassing. I stand corrected.

Senator John Paul Phelan referred to funding allocated by the commission and acknowledged the progress it made. I was glad to hear Senator Phelan state this because this is his first term in the Houses of the Oireachtas. He is fortunate because examining previous dispensations under which Senators and Deputies had to labour in the Houses, one sees the commission made substantial improvement in the conditions of service of parliamentarians.

One should casts one's mind back to the 19th century and consider those elected to the imperial Parliament in London who had to plead Ireland's cause without the benefit of a salary. Many members of the old Irish Parliamentary Party went to London at great personal expense and lived in extremely poor conditions there. They had to attend and make a democratic case in a Parliament dominated by many who did not have a wholehearted commitment to democracy.

When one considers the conditions in these Houses under the Free State and the present Constitution, there is no doubt the arrangements made now and provided for in the Bill mean a person with a calling to politics and who has the honour of being elected by the people can perform his or her duties with some modicum of support.