Ann Ormonde (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister to the House. I am delighted to be here to make another contribution on how best to reform the Seanad. This matter has been raised several times since I first came to this House in 1993. Several debates have been held on the subject of how best to reform the Seanad for the 21st century. I have read the report and I have scanned it again and again, and there are two areas where reform is needed. I refer to the composition of the Seanad, how Members are elected and our role and function as Senators. People say the Seanad should be abolished. I did not read all 161 submissions. The majority of submissions contained suggestions as to how the reform should take place. I certainly do not agree with the cynics who believe for whatever reason that the Seanad has no relevance in the 21st century. I disagree totally with such thinking.

There have been suggestions that the election of Senators to the Seanad is undemocratic. I could not disagree more. How could it be? We are selected by a nominating body. We then have to travel the whole of Ireland to campaign among county councillors——