Paul Bradford (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, to the House. I am sorry that the Minister, Deputy Phil Hogan, has left but I presume we will have the chance to discuss the matter with him again at an early date. I thank Senator Crown for the work he has undertaken in producing the Bill. It certainly adds to the political debate on the future. I look forward with keen interest to the publication of further legislation on Seanad reform by Senator Feargal Quinn, Senator Katherine Zappone and others.

I was in the Citywest Hotel, Dublin, in September 2009 when the Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, who was then the leader of Fine Gael in opposition, announced to a hushed audience his proposal to abolish the Seanad. I was at the Glenties summer school two or three months earlier when he announced his view of what the Seanad could be and how its role could be expanded and enhanced. I was at the meeting of the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party - and this is why I am sorry the Minister, Deputy Phil Hogan, has left - in June 2009 when, as part of our document on what we termed "new politics", we provided a strong, dynamic blueprint for a new, improved, enhanced and democratised Seanad.

I want to reflect on that policy because it provided a roadmap to this and any future Seanad. We favoured the election of approximately half of the Members of Seanad Éireann directly by the public, an election to take place on the same day as the election for the European Parliament, an extension of voting rights to all university and third level college graduates, and as far as I recall, an enhancement of the panel system. It was a very well worked-out document. That is why I was so surprised when three or four months later we did not just do a U-turn but an absolute about turn and decided that our policy was now in favour of abolishing Seanad Éireann.