David Norris (Independent)

It is important from a democratic point of view that this House remains a dissenting voice, particularly because we face these economic problems. I sit on the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, of which I was a founder member with our current President Michael D. Higgins. He was a Member of this House as was W.B. Yeats and another President, Mary Robinson. As we sit here, a Bill introduced by my colleague, Senator Feargal Quinn, is going through the Dáil. That is how useful Seanad Éireann is.

I have produced social legislation that was revolutionary and while the Government eventually took it over, it was initiated in this House. Every single Member on the Independent benches has produced legislation, which has had an impact. In fact, one could say we have had more of an impact in proportion to our size and the way we are resourced, than Dáil Éireann which is simply full of voting fodder.

I came into the House 25 years ago on a slogan of reform. My slogan was: "Vote No. 1 Norris for an end to the quiet life in the Seanad." I think I have delivered on that whatever people might think about it. Ten years earlier, in 1977, I also coined the phrase that the Seanad was in danger of becoming the intensive care unit of the Dáil. I know there are flaws in it, but I also know they can be rectified, and so does every single Member of this House. We will not act on it, however, and why not? It is because there is a lot of hypocrisy and laziness in establishment circles.

The Cathaoirleach and the Leader know that on numerous occasions in the past I have tabled all-party resolutions - agreed by every single party in this House - concerning reform of the Seanad, yet Governments of whatever hue routinely vote their own proposals down. That is how serious they were about the reform of Seanad Éireann.

Senator O'Donovan, who has had a distinguished career in this House, said that other reforms were proposed as well. The Government should be ashamed to make such a farce of an alleged consultation with the people - a convention that does not address the real issues, but avoids them and talks about reducing the voting age. The latter point is significant but it is not earth-shattering. It also seeks to reduce the term of the Presidency. I am glad the Government received my letter at last because I wrote it about 20 years ago. It has taken a long time for that particular penny to drop, but it is not of huge significance. If the Government is going to look at the Presidency, what is it afraid of? Why is it so hypocritical? It should consider its own 1998 report which said - as did every single party - that the nomination process for the highest office in the land was undemocratic and unfair. The former Deputy, Jim O'Keeffe, produced a Fine Gael Bill on the matter. However, when something that was not even quite as tough as that was produced within the last few months by Deputy Catherine Murphy, who is a decent woman, the Government voted it down. Therefore let us tear away this figleaf that the Government is interested in reform, because it is not. It is interested in power. I am glad that a professor from Trinity College is coming in here to give a talk about power. It was Acton who said that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. I would hate to see it happening to the Government.

We have a very difficult economic situation and it is precisely in those situations that human rights get pushed down the ladder. That is where I see this House doing more than talking about European law. This is one forum where we have never avoided human rights issues; we have consistently brought them up. While the other House is dealing with economic affairs, as it is charged to do, and we are restricted in our capacity to deal with such affairs by the Constitution, we can deal with human rights.

We all know that reforms are needed because we are unrepresentative. I acknowledge that the university seats need reform, but we are probably the most democratic element of the whole House. Some 55,000 Dublin University constituents are eligible to vote and in my case they are quite independent-minded. I think the electorate is approximately 95,000 or 100,000 in the NUI constituency. Those are real constituencies. They should be broadened but the Government should look at the beam in its own eye. The Taoiseach's selection of his 11 seats was visionary, although he may live to regret it. They are independent-minded people. Those 11 seats are filled without any pretence of an election. The last election to be held was a by-election in which 237 votes were cast. For public consumption to gull the people, those votes have to be multiplied by 1,000 and the newspapers collaborate with this. Therefore, if somebody gets 97.3 votes, we are told they got 97,300 but it is a farce.

We need to look carefully at the nominating bodies to ensure they do not represent the current antiquated groups, but that they are spread out to represent the whole variety of Irish life - intellectual, academic, working, nursing, teaching and others. We must then do the critical thing which is to liberate the voter, giving ordinary members of the public the vote. We will then not duplicate the Dáil. If the Seanad was just the "son" of Dáil Éireann there would be no point in it, but there is a point in having something that is different and can bring in a different expertise. It can, for example, bring in medical expertise, as we have seen with the professor of oncology, Senator Crown. We have also seen Senator Feargal Quinn who is an extraordinarily successful businessman. In addition, Senator Denis O'Donovan is constantly talking about the fishing industry, while Senator Fiach Mac Conghail talks about the arts with such passion. I will not name any more Senators because it would just become invidious and be a waste of time. Nonetheless, in this instance, we have a real possibility to undertake reform if we have the courage to do so.

In order to reform Seanad Éireann, it must be included in the constitutional convention, otherwise it is a farce. The Government must also include the Presidency, otherwise its cover will be blown and we will know we were right to suspect what was going on. It is a dangerous exercise. I protested when, at the beginning of the awful economic difficulties, instead of addressing financial problem, the previous Government, led by Fianna Fáil, silenced every organ or group, from Combat Poverty to the Equality Agency, that spoke out on behalf of marginalised people.

It is the same system now in that the Government is silencing one of the last critical voices. Seanad Éireann was established in 1922 to give a voice to people who thought they might have no voice in the new State - those of a dissenting religion - and it was successful. It was abolished by President de Valera in 1936 but by 1937 he had to rethink it and reintroduced it. Does anybody here think I would ever have been elected to a national parliament? In my opinion it is an honour for this country that I was the first gay person in the world to be elected to a national parliament by a real electorate. It took 25 years to replicate that in the Dáil. So I am saying, let us keep the Republic and the values of Tone, Pearse and the rest. Let us cherish both Houses of the Oireachtas equally.