Katherine Zappone (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I saw that press release. The second time I saw ideas being developed was on the Minister, Deputy Richard Bruton's website. When the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, came to the House on the abolition Bill, he expanded a little on those reform ideas. I have already spoken of what I think about those ideas, which is that I do not believe they are substantive enough, by any means, to ensure a check and a balance to ensure the generation of good ideas and a different type of democratic deliberation.

As for the costs, I received in my pigeonhole this week a message from the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission regarding the estimate of the amount of moneys required in respect of ongoing expenditure for the period January 2014 to December 2014, and it also contains the costs for 2013. It states in black and white that the cost of Seanad Éireann is under €10 million. We had this deliberation when the Minister of State was in the House recently about where the €20 million comes from and why that figure is still being put out.