Diarmuid Wilson (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

-----they are replaced. They will be replaced by people who will toe the Government line and do what they are told. That is another shock to our democracy.

It is worth reading into the record a few paragraphs of an open letter that a former distinguished Member of this House, a former Minister of State and a man who comes form the Protestant tradition on our Island , Martin Mansergh wrote to The Irish Times in early June. The letter states:

Forty-three of its members are elected after very competitive contests by the people whom the people elect ... city and county councillors, incoming TDs and outgoing Senators. It is a form of indirect democracy very similar to the French system, which ensures there is no conflict of legitimacy between the two chambers.

The only elite element [I ask my colleagues seated behind me to wait until I have finished this sentence] is that of the university seats: the electorate for which should at least have been broadened out long ago, since the 1979 referendum----

The letter continues:

The only elite element is that of the university seats: the electorate for which should at least have been broadened out long ago, since the 1979 referendum, to include all third level institutions.