Marie Louise O'Donnell (Independent)

I support the motion that the future of the Seanad should be part of the constitutional convention. Why would that be so wrong? What is it about that proposal that Fine Gael and Labour do not want to do it? Have Fine Gael and Labour no faith in the Seanad? Have they no faith in its past, its present and its future? What does the Government really want? If it wants the abolition of the Seanad it can have it but it should look around. If that happens it will have closed down part of a powerful Executive. It will have closed down a place where there are checks and balances, new voices, new ways and a democratic balance in terms of what happens in this country and to our people. If that is what the Government wants, it can have it because without reform the Seanad will not survive. If it turns down the constitutional convention as a place where that reform can be discussed, I have no doubt it will bring about that demise.

I say to the leader of Fine Gael and the Labour Party Whip that the absence of Fine Gael and Labour Senators for this debate-----