Jimmy Harte (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, to the Chamber. This issue is difficult for most Senators to speak about. Some former Members, among whom I do not include the Minister of State, have stated blatantly on the radio and in the media that the Seanad is rotten. That is a disservice to democracy in this country and to all politicians. Even the smallest town council in the country is respected by citizens, whether it represents 500 or 20,000 people. The public generally have regard for it because of its powers, no matter how little work it carries out.

For a former Senator to describe this House as useless and rotten is a slur on the previous generations who served here. I do not include the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, in this. Such attitudes play to those who say that all politicians deserve to be sacked. The public deserve a serious debate instead of a populist one.

I have previously quoted from the book Lustrum, a novel about ancient Rome during the period when Cicero served as consul. The book described Cicero's response to a tedious law restricting the right of senators to claim expenses for unofficial trips to the provinces. The law was described as the sort of self-interested legislation that attracts every elected bore in politics. Cicero lined up an entire bench of such bores and promised them they could speak for as long as they wished. That was 2,500 years ago but nothing much has changed. Election campaigns in ancient Rome usually lasted four weeks but one election campaign mentioned in the book continued for eight weeks and resulted an amazing amount of money being spent. Patricians set up a war chest to fund each other. Roman politics was corrupt but the idea that its senate should be abolished due to financial irregularities was knocked on the head. In regard to the cost of this Seanad, even if its abolition resulted in the highest estimated savings of €10 million per annum, it would take 300 years to repay the €3 billion provided to bail out Quinn Insurance. Democracy cannot be measured in financial terms.

I never got a clear reason for the proposed abolition of the Seanad. Some have argued on the basis of financial reasons-----