Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I agree. I am nearly there, and am not repeating myself, as the Cathaoirleach will have noticed. I reiterate that we live in a democracy where the Constitution vests the sole and exclusive law-making authority of the State in the President and the two Houses of the Oireachtas. Yet in this democracy, the vast majority of citizens alive today have never been entitled to vote in elections for the second Chamber. In an era when people across the world are protesting in an attempt to open their democracies and their democratic practices, why are we seeking to reduce our democratic institutions without ever giving our people the opportunity to vote in this way?