Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)

There is no use talking about the average industrial wage. I have brothers on the average industrial wage, and I will not be lectured on that. I have been there.

I set up my own business and I know the difference between being employed and being self-employed. Most people work 39 hours a week but my average working week is approximately 70 hours. If that was factored over a period per hour it makes for interesting reading, and when one gets down to the net figure it is very interesting reading. Like everybody else I support many organisations and so on, and that is another drain. I could have remained in my other job. I have colleagues the same age as me in the other profession who are doing better than me, but that is neither here nor there. As I told the Senator, I came into this Oireachtas to try to improve the lot of people. One can get down to the lowest common denominator in terms of the price of everything but the value is important as well. Everybody is talking about being available for one's constituents and so on. I always prided myself on being available up to 10 o'clock or 11 o'clock at night. I do not close down at 5 p.m. and switch off, no more than the Senator or any of my colleagues here. I look upon all the Senators as my colleagues. That is a point I have always made and I will continue to make.

I take the point made by Senator Mooney, who is well-researched on that issue. It is worth considering, and the officials are aware of the document. In the early 1980s I had to learn the Constitution off by heart. If I did not, the first examination question on constitutional law would have been bad. It states that Dáil Éireann shall be composed of members who represent a constituency determined by law and it shall be determined that there will be not less than one for each 30,000 of the population and not more than one for 20,000, but the ratio between the number of Members to be elected any time for each constituency and the population in each constituency, as ascertained in the preceding census, shall, so far as is practicable, be the same throughout the country. It is that equality of representation that is important.

In terms of Senator Mooney's point, I would like to believe it works like that. Senator Byrne made the same point, namely, that Meath should be a geographical entity, for want of a better word, and similarly Westmeath, and that if the number of representatives is fixed at three or four it can remain at that. In terms of the population changes, we would have to change the Constitution to achieve that, which is something I espouse also. I will not say it is someone else's proposal. I am thinking on my feet now, which I used to have to do in another profession, but that area might be examined as part of the constitutional convention. Irish people are reluctant to change aspects of the Constitution when they are asked to do so. I recall reading that in the 1960s two attempts were made to change the method of electing people and the Irish people resisted them. They are careful about it. I hope this constitutional convention takes place because it is worthwhile. However, it is important to get the right participation in that also to have a better outcome. From that perspective I am not able to accept the amendments but I take the points made. They are borne from years of experience on the part of people.