Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Those on the opposite side should leave this silly case whereby they speak in favour of the Seanad and then vote against it, as 29 people did last week. There will be more of those days and those Senators will discredit this House. It cannot be a place where people say one thing and do another.

The Government does not like the university seats or northerners. The Minister of State would not believe the amount of correspondence I have received from my northern voters. A man from Enniskillen asked me not to let the Government abolish the Seanad because he said it was vital for this country. The Unionist parties were down last week and representatives from the SDLP were here yesterday. The man asked why the Taoiseach had become a partitionist Taoiseach. He said we need measures that unite the two communities in this country and that the Taoiseach would be denying his people their voting rights. He said that it would go against the Good Friday Agreement and the Anglo-Irish Agreement. Those voting rights were in place when the agreements were signed but the Taoiseach is sweeping them away. It is too awkward having northerners around here. What will be next? Will he ban northerners from the Irish rugby team or ban them from the Irish cricket team? It would certainly solve the Rory McIlroy problem. This Taoiseach does not like northerners. Let him play for the United Kingdom in the Olympic Games.

The Taoiseach does not like universities either. He is getting rid of the university seats. I have come to try to help the Government but not only in matters of economics. The Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Deputy Kelly, was here. He did not believe in satellite navigation systems. We got in the professors in the relevant subjects to explain that it was not necessary to do a written examination for every county in Ireland in order to drive a taxi. We managed to cure somewhat the technophobia of the Minister of State. How do we tax heavy goods vehicles on the roads? We got in touch with the civil engineering department in the college and learned that it should be done by the fourth power of the axle weight, not the unladen weight per vehicle. The Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy O'Dowd, was here for that. He said that he could not consider it for six months and that he would have to do the research. I put it to him that it was done already and it was simply a matter of pressing the button and the data could be printed out.

There is a problem with a lack of technological development in the Civil Service. We are trying to help mitigate that in the House. If it is not wanted, that is fine. Trinity College Dublin ranks eighth in Europe and 48th in the world. There are many other people who will listen to the type of wisdom that universities bring. Anyway, it is a shameful act, without any reference to the record of service since 1607, to seek to abolish an entire constituency of people who have served the country splendidly.

Why is this Taoiseach different from his predecessors? The former Taoiseach, Mr. Cosgrave, nominated Michael D Higgins to the Seanad. The former Taoiseach, Mr. FitzGerald, began his career here. Mr. Douglas Hyde became President after serving as a Senator, as did Michael D Higgins. Why is the Taoiseach in a one-person minority, with people grovelling to him saying that they agree with them now, but they do not put up any argument? Why is he dominating a traditionally democratic party, which the Fine Gael Party was once? Senators from the Government side have quoted James Dillon and espoused the creative tension between the two Houses of Parliament.

This is a shameful exercise and I am pleased to see the opinion polls moving in our direction. I imagine that when the Taoiseach turns up on "Prime Time" for the debate with Senator Norris it will complete the process and we will then have won. This is such a waste of money and time. The Government is destroying its political capital. It is not reforming banks or senior elements in the Civil Service. They are crucial people. The Government blamed the collapse of the Celtic tiger on the Seanad without a shred of evidence to support the proposition. The Government has now backed itself into a corner and, as Senator Labhrás Ó Murchú said, it should get out now while the going is good. I will be praying every day that the Seanad will be retained and I believe people on the Government side should say the same prayers for the Seanad to be retained.