David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Thank you very much. The Cathaoirleach has had a long and distinguished career in the House. Can he remember any other time when every amendment but one of approximately 100 amendments was ruled out of order? If not, why not? Why is there so much fudging? Why is the Government stifling debate? The reason the specified dates have been chosen is simple. The Government shoved this in while all of the attention was on the abortion debate to ensure we would never be covered. We are moving into the silly season, during which we will not be covered at all. The next thing will be the vote, which was why it was important for us to delay the Bill.

I appeal to Members on the other side. If they have any integrity, they will come out and vote to remit the Bill with at least one amendment. This is the only amendment we have, which is why they must vote on it. If they do not, they will have sold out the people whom they will not have allowed to discuss the matter properly. We will just have the fudge, the lies and taxpayers' money spent to spread this odious rubbish.

I was grossly offended by what the Minister, Deputy Richard Bruton said. How dare he say what he did about people in the House who oppose the referendum? He has said we claim the Seanad should be retained and reformed when the reality is that attempts to reform the Seanad in the past have failed. Of course, they failed. Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, the Labour Party and the rest of them all opposed reform. Fine Gael and the Taoiseach played a leading role in this. The smoking gun is in the statement they made and I hope someone will pick it up. Hello, out there. If anyone is listening, there is a smoking gun here. One of the people who signed the statement said she was offered a candidacy for the Seanad in 2007. In 2007 the then Leader of the Opposition, Deputy Enda Kenny, now Taoiseach, was assisting in the business of corrupting the Seanad in a way he now decries. There is the smoking gun. What happened to him that he suddenly saw the light? He was deeply involved in the corruption of Seanad Éireann and in impeding reform, yet he suddenly comes along to say he wants to reform the Seanad by abolishing it. He will not even give the people the credit of being intelligent enough to decide between reform and abolition.

The lying, trickery and knavery goes on. Of course, they are not confronting the people with the reality of what they are doing on their coy and evasive ballot paper which one might easily sign in the flicker of an eye. I wonder if it is legal. They should rehearse. This was the point of one of the amendments the Cathaoirleach ruled out of order. I have no idea why he did so, as he gave no explanation.