Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Absolutely but I ask the Cathaoirleach to bear with me while I come to the point. It also said the House should devote more time to legislation and Senators should be provided with more research facilities to assist them in their work. It said, specifically, that Seanad Éireann should be given a watch-dog role on secondary legislation. Many statutory instruments become law with no parliamentary scrutiny, requiring only that they be laid before the Oireachtas.

The paper said that Seanad Éireann could produce specific reports on the application of Government policy and such reports could then be put to the relevant Ministers. It talked about reducing the Taoiseach's nominees from 11 to eight.