Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)

As somebody who sits through a lot of debates here and who as a member of the agricultural panel ends up sucking at the hind teat for speaking time on many occasions, it is great, as a Sinn Féin Senator, to get the opportunity to get back in a debate such as this for a second time. What is important when we consider reform of the Seanad is that we consider voting rights for all of our citizens, especially our diaspora. We believe there is a huge need for reform. The university panels are not really democratic as they do not recognise degrees from all third level institutions. We also need to consider the quality of debate in the Seanad. Many of the Ministers who have come into this House have said that the quality of debate on issues here is much superior to that in the Dáil.

There would be an issue also if we only had one House, the Dáil, which has a massive majority. We have seen how legislation can be railroaded through this House, but if it was necessary only to railroad it through one House, I would fear for the democratic process. We have had some very good debates here on certain issues and have been able to tease out issues, such as the septic tank issue. Although the Government side did not like the way we drew out that debate, certain changes were made to the legislation which improved it and that was important. It is for this reason we have called for issues such as poverty, regional development, older people's issues, job creation and youth emigration to be debated here fully.

Tá mé chun seans a thabhairt anois do mo chomhleacaí, an Seanadóir Walsh, ach tá súil agam go mbeidh díospóireacht eile againn agus go m'fhéidir go gcuirfear an mantóg ar chainteoirí an Rialtais amach anseo arís.