John Gilroy (Labour)

This was a good week for the Seanad, and an important week. The debate on yesterday's Private Members' motion by the Labour Party was particularly good, with some excellent contributions, and it is heartening to see an all-party consensus developing in this regard. I welcome Fianna Fáil's offer to come up with some further ideas and perhaps even some legislation. I also note with interest Senator MacSharry's exuberant and energetic contributions.

One speaker yesterday mentioned the summer school in Drogheda and seemed to be critical of some Senators who allegedly made some comments in favour of abolishing the Seanad. I was keen to find out more about this, and I concluded that the Senator was perhaps a little harsh in her criticism. Some Senators made mild criticisms of the Seanad, but we do need to face up to the weaknesses of the House and move to address them. As the Pope might say, the Senator was in error in her criticism of her Seanad colleagues yesterday.

The Technical Group's debate on political reform was particularly good. The fabled 12 reports on Seanad reform seem to have all died on the vine. Why is there a lack of political will to reform Seanad procedures and system? Some time ago it was suggested TG4, or another national broadcaster, would allocate some of its broadcast schedule to cover some Seanad debates. If more people could see more of our contributions, the rush for Seanad abolition might not be as strong as it is.