Rónán Mullen (Independent)

I am not sure about Senator Keane's bottom-up approach, but I certainly feel that this legislation is coming from the top down. Although they are welcome voices in the great national debate on policy and legislation, certain groups would have been agitating for this legislation. Speaking for myself, I am not hearing much from the people of Ahascragh about it or from the people of the north side of Dublin, where I live. This is not an issue about which people are terribly concerned. That is because they value their democratic institutions as they have them, and they elect who they want to elect. We have lost sight of that principle in this legislation. The fact that there is no clamour for legislation of this kind, other than from vocal, influential voices who have access to the media, is something we should consider. They are no less welcome to the debate than anybody else, but they should not-----