David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I second Senator Denis O'Donovan's proposed amendment to the Order of Business.

I was pleasantly surprised to hear on "Drivetime" about the launch of Democracy Now, which I warmly welcome.

A number of current members of this House are part of Democracy Matters, as well as our former colleague, Joe O'Toole. I welcome it warmly and hope it plays a vital role. However, I was a little disturbed to hear a commentator from RTE state authoritatively that Senators had never shown the slightest interest in the reform of this House. That is absolutely untrue. We have consistently done so. This is true not only of individuals on this side of the House, but also of members of the political parties. However, every single time the Government of the day has blocked us. Let us be clear - the blocking agency was not the Senate, individual Senators or parties within the Senate, but Governments of all complexions.

I was mentioned in the aforementioned report and it was argued that my principal contribution was outside this House. I do not accept that for one second. Apart from anything else, I was involved with others in lobbying for a change to the criminal law within this House, which gave great added significance to my case. I introduced the first civil partnership Bill. I got the guardian ad litemissue dealt with and the foreign affairs committee going. Every single Senator on the Independent benches and many from the various political parties could lay claim to equal or greater contributions individually. I do not accept that we did nothing.