Feargal Quinn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will be very brief. I wish to follow through on something that was said previously. My point is exactly the same as Senator Zappone made. My concern is that the same people will be doing the scrutiny if we only have one House. I have a deep concern about the issue. I will not spend time on it but the Minister of State might have heard me speak previously about two particular instances I remember in this House. The reason I am influenced by them is that I counted 540 amendments to legislation that had passed through the Dáil and came into this House. Some of the changes were not of substance but others were quite substantial. They related to issues that had been missed in the Dáil. The example I remember best is from some years ago and it occurred when the Dáil had gone into recess for the summer. We were discussing the ban on opinion polls on Committee Stage of the electoral (amendment) Bill. The Government had introduced a ban on opinion polls being issued by newspapers for three weeks before an election.