Eoghan Harris (Independent)

I call upon the Leader to convey the consensus that most Seanadóirí believe that an bord snip nua's report should be published. While he wants us to confine our points to this House, there is a certain sense of relief around Leinster House. It is like having noisy neighbours move out. There is a relief in the Chamber that we can breathe a bit and address ourselves to the issues that matter.

I will reserve my remarks on the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill, but I wish to make a point about an bord snip nua. It has been precluded from examining the most important aspect of its work, namely, the question of public sector pay. As a formerly active trade unionist, I do not understand how the trade union movement and the political class can contemplate axing 20,000 jobs instead of cutting public service pay and saving those jobs. I do not know why people should not think the unthinkable and why public servants should not work longer days and provide the same quality of public services for less money, given the revolutionary situation in which we are living.

I do not know how the political class, including Seanadóirí, can pontificate about the public sector or the economy when it has given such a contemptible example. The political class should have been at point position in giving up its pay and perks. Minor cosmetic changes have been made. Seanadóirí and Deputies, including former Ministers, have held on like grim death to their perks and privileges, setting a bad example for the people. I do not know why, from the point of view of survival and self-interest, Deputies and Senators do not see that the people are logging this information day in, day out and that there will be a terrible day of reckoning. Since I am a one-term Senator, I do not care. Out of self-interest, Deputies and Senators should have set a good example and taken cuts until the pips squeaked, so to speak.