Donie Cassidy (Fianna Fail)

She was party leader of the Progressive Democrats. I have checked all my facts. I have been here a long time, for longer than most; only one other person has been here longer than me.

To put the record straight, when I became a Member of the House in 1982, the Seanad sat for about half a day every week. The situation changed and colleagues now on the Independent benches should know that in 1987 it sat for about a day and a half each week. It now sits three days a week. The business conducted today is completely different from that which was conducted 25 or 30 years ago.

On the opportunity to initiate a Bill, 25 or 30 years ago it would have been cause for a celebration for Members of the House if one Bill a year was initiated in the Seanad. In 2008, 30% of all legislation was initiated in this House and 1,201 amendments were proposed and accepted by the Ministers of the day. The priority of the House is to deal with legislation. Senator Alex White is correct when he outlines our constitutional obligations as Senators.

Since I became Leader in 1997, I remember only two occasions on which the debates on Bills had to be guillotined. That is our great strength, as I keep on saying. All Bills in the Dáil, because of time constraints and the fact that there are 166 Deputies, cannot be debated in full and it has to guillotine the debates on Bills at some stage, but that does not happen in the Seanad. We are the protector-----