Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Only 2% of the laws made every year are debated in the Chambers of these Houses. How is it that by abolishing any House the democratic deficit would improve? It would only get bigger. The power will remain concentrated in the hands of the establishment. By that I mean the political elite, that being those Ministers who were appointed and their officials That is all that is going to happen. Is there any chance that we can repair the democratic deficit when it comes to our citizens overseas? Will we ever extend the vote in a meaningful way to those citizens? We talk about it in terms of our Constitution, yet we do not do anything about it. We are in dubious company in that the countries that do not give votes to their citizens overseas are dictatorships and those that do not have free and fair elections. We are in that club when it comes to our citizens overseas.