Michael D'Arcy (Fine Gael)

It is a pleasure to speak on the motion and I am happy to do so, but if we are being honest, the truth is there is nothing this Chamber can do, by changing around procedures, to connect with the people. There is only one thing that can happen politically and that is that the people would elect Senators to this Chamber. Everything else is tinkering around the edges and tiptoeing around the real issue. That is the only way this Chamber can become relevant. It is the only way the Seanad should be saved.

To put it into context, a number of Senators should be directly elected in very large constituencies. A very large constituency might be ten Dáil seats comprising two five-seat constituencies. Wicklow and Wexford are an example I can give of a constituency of 250,000 people. In terms of why that should be done, a person elected to a large constituency of that type cannot attend all the funerals and do the constituency work or the other work being done by Members of the Dáil.

I am not just critical of the way this Seanad is operating or how it is elected, I am critical of the way the Dáil is elected. The reality is that in the 1970s and the 1980s, constituency clinics were first held. In the 1990s constituency offices were first opened. In the next decade TDs were out knocking on doors. With e-mails, mobile phones and social networking, TDs have become constituency slaves. They do not analyse or scrutinise any legislation. Anything that is happening is a pretence. We can pretend we are doing something about that or we can do something alien to politics, that is, we can do something about it. That is reform. It is not tinkering around the edges. It will have to be a massive change.

Two other areas must change. The control of the Executive over the Legislature in this country is total. Our adversarial type of politics is based upon the United Kingdom model, but other countries have a looser and better system in regard to separation of powers. The separation of powers here is irrelevant. The Executive is in full control of the Legislature and that is not a good thing.

The final issue I want to address is our Civil Service. We must reform our Civil Service. We must reform the way those in the Civil Service are appointed. A Secretary General is appointed and no one knows who he or she is but he or she has full power. Why does he or she have full power? It is because Ministers come and go. It is classic Sir Humphrey Appleby in "Yes, Minister" and it is the classic Civil Service we have in this country. That must change. We must be prepared to be bold, and I hope this Fine Gael-Labour Government will be bold. We must be bold because when we leave office, we will leave the institutions in a better condition than that in which we found them. That means being brave, although that is not always something one gets rewarded for in politics.

Equally, it is crucial we reform our local authority structures. The way they were designed on establishment in 1899 was grand but we have an amazing number of county councillors in some areas. The best example I can give is County Leitrim which, with a population of less than 30,000 people and with a standard turnout of 60%, has 22 councillors. One can get elected in County Leitrim with 300 or 400 votes. The largest local authority electoral ward is Carrigaline in County Cork. It has six council seats and 60,000 people. The imbalance is ridiculous. This is the legacy we have inherited and no one will decide to change it because leaving it is easier. Fianna Fáil has been the Government party since the establishment of the State. Why change the system when one is in charge and is able to win local, Seanad and general elections? For the first time, Fine Gael has the largest number of seats in the Dáil and the Seanad. We must stand up and declare that we will leave the institutions in a better state than they were when we first found them.