Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Tá fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. It is ironic that the Minister of State is present considering that one of the aspects of the debate to date has been the carving up of County Donegal.

One of the more significant events in the past week, according to media reports, has been the meeting of the Tánaiste and his Labour Party colleagues in the Seanad with whom he met with a smile on his face. I do not know whether it was a smile or a smirk because I was not present, but the reports seem to indicate that his opening remark was, "Your jobs are gone, boys and girls." I have a feeling this is a Government spin for the general public, that somehow the Bill is about reform. It has nothing to do with reform, rather it had to do with the optics. Senator Sean D. Barrett articulated this view very well, much better than any of the rest of us, when he analysed the legislation. It seems to be a sop to the public or the media that constantly attack the institutions of the State and politicians of all parties, the general corpus of politicians, as if there was an urgent need for reform that would be exclusive to these Houses. Senator Sean D. Barrett made that argument well and I shall not go down the same road. I share his views in that regard, that we do not hear about the other elements of Irish society, about all those who made decisions outside the political system that impacted on the political system and had the consequences with which we and the general public are dealing. In the context of reform, this is rather surprising.

Usually when a Minister comes before the House, it gives him or her an opportunity, irrespective of the legislation involved, to trumpet his or her brief or highlight the positive nature of Government policies. Strangely enough, that has been absent today. We heard a very dry and coldly analytical speech that stuck closely to the Bill without going into any of the other elements of political reform. I have long supported the view - I heard Senator Paul Bradford say this earlier - that there is a need for urgent reform of the political system. One of the basic problems and flaws is the current system of having multi-seat constituencies which exerts enormous pressure on Deputies of all parties, particularly where the Government parties have the majority of seats in a constituency. Usually the competition is not between the Government and Opposition Deputiesj but between the Government Deputies. It is all about who gets the letter or word out first and who is going to be the person seen to be championing a particular issue in the constituency rather than any concern about party political affiliations. Having a single seat constituency system would eliminate this competition almost overnight and help us to get away from the clientist politics constantly talked about.

I am not suggesting in any way that I am not defending the right of Deputies, Senators and councillors to represent the people who elected them. However, I can never ever understand the logic of the argument made by those who criticise the political system when they refer rather patronisingly to parish pump politics. For goodness sake, what is the purpose of somebody who goes before the electorate and puts forward his or her view that he or she wants to try to improve the lot of the people whom he or she represents? The people respond by electing him or her to the Legislature or a local council and somehow he or she is then to be spancilled in the sense that he or she is not to fight on the issues on which he or she was first elected. I fail to understand that logic.