Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

There was a shallowness in that analysis which indicts the Government.

Senator Norris has already described the surprised reaction of the then Leader of the Opposition in the Seanad, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, to the announcement to abolish the Seanad. She was Leader of the Opposition here at the time but the Taoiseach did not even inform her of a proposal of such fundamental importance. Again, this illustrates how shoddy the whole proposal was.

The sad point is that instead of accepting this is not the way one reforms our democratic institutions, which are ultimately fragile, we blithely talk about having a unicameral system as though it would not make a difference. Ní hé lá na gaoithe lá na scolb. It is not now when we do not have a crisis that we might regret tampering with our democratic institutions in an ill thought-out way. It is at some future point.

People can already see the unhealthy developments that can flow when there is too strong a majority in the Lower House. I do not want to be partisan about this but we have seen it in recent days on a very important life-and-death Bill. It would perhaps have been much different if the numbers had been closer. In the future, if parties not committed to democratic ideals, root and branch, gain politically in a populist moment or as a reaction to national difficulties, then that will be the time we will benefit from having checks and balances and the capacity to slow down the legislative process, holding it up to scrutiny. That will be important even if we can only delay legislation under current arrangements.

It saddens me to see Ministers, party officials and Members on the Government side acting like ventriloquists’ dummies. It may be becoming the fashion to sit on each other’s laps in the other House but it should not happen on an issue like this.