Rónán Mullen (Independent)

I thank the Senator for sharing time and also for telling us that he was wrong on occasions. It reminds me of a friend who said he was only ever wrong once and that was when he thought he was wrong but he was actually right. Somebody said today was a good day for the Seanad that we had voted against the wishes of the Government and managed to secure a debate on the motion. It would be a much better day for the Seanad if, on any given day, the House was to show itself capable of voting against the wishes of the Government on a point of principle about a particular legislative amendment or some other issue. A weakness that is apparent for all to see in the way the Seanad operates is that we do not prove sufficiently often that we have minds of our own and we do not live out what the Seanad was meant to be, which is a place where unusual, surprising, but very carefully considered points can be made and where there would be a reflection of legislation and policy that did not manage to happen in the other House. Whatever is to be the future of the Seanad it has to involve promoting that independence of thought and unpredictability as well in terms of the scrutiny that is available. I am not a particular fan of the constitutional convention idea. It is rather rash and does not compare well with the previous sophisticated work of the Constitution review group. If there is to be a constitutional convention it is appropriate that any proposal to change the Constitution would come under that heading and would fall to be considered in due course by that convention.

I disagree with those who say that if presented with a straight proposal to abolish the Seanad they will vote for it. To do that and to say that actually panders to the superficial, ill-considered, authoritarian and anti-democratic approach being taken by the Government. The change I would like to see in our institutions is that we would introduce a list system or elements of the list system into voting for the Seanad. In that way we would be able to guarantee that in one House at least there are people elected who have an eye to national issues, to policy considerations and who are not driven to the extent that, perhaps, happens in the Dáil, to focus on local issues so much of the time because that has been to the detriment of democracy. That is where the Seanad could make a major contribution. Were we to be elected by a list system it would guarantee diversity of representation of different shades of opinion in the country and would be to the benefit of politics.