Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Like Senator Bradford, I was very disappointed to receive this letter from the Government Chief Whip in this House. This is party business and in my view, it should not have been conducted in a House of the Oireachtas. I am not angry, but I am disappointed. I am really philosophical this evening, because I fundamentally believe we have missed an opportunity for reform. One of the biggest problems we have in this House is a very unhealthy party system. It is fear of the Whip.

We badly need reform in this country because Irish people elect us to think. They do not elect us to say "Leave your brain outside the door and let someone else do the thinking for you." While we have such a repressive Whip system, that is what is going on. Please God this House will be retained by the voters, and that retention will be a mandate for reform at the next general election. That mandate should be that we do not need a party system in this House. We need people to be able to think on their feet. We need a policy formulation House, and the other House badly needs people to formulate policy. Policy can be decided by democracy in here, by a voting system.

There is much wrong with this Bill. One of the key problems has been pointed out by Senator Barrett. It is wrong that university voters from NUI panels and TCD panels outside this jurisdiction do not have a vote on whether this House should be abolished or not. There is something fundamentally exclusionary and undemocratic about that.