Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Tá lúcháir orm an deis a bheith agam labhairt anseo ar an mír seo den díospóireacht agus ar an leasú atá curtha chun tosaigh anseo. Is lá brónach é seo do Seanadóirí den Teach seo atá ag freastal ar phobal na hÉireann. Tá an Seanad iontach stairiúil, chan amháin i mBunreacht na hÉireann ach i mbunú na tíre seo. Tá an Teach seo ann ó 1922. Bhí guth i gcónaí ag daoine sa Teach seo, go háirithe ag mionlaigh na tíre. Anois, de bhrí go ndearna ceannaire Fhine Gael cinneadh polaitiúil roimh an toghchán deireannach, tá sé ag iarraidh deiridh a chur leis an Teach seo agus ag cur brú go rachaidh sin tríd an Teach. Ní hamháin go bhfuil sé ag tabhairt an rogha sin do phobal na tíre, ach tá a pháirtí ag dul ag caitheamh suas le €250,000 sa phróiseas sin fosta. Is masla iomlán é sin do daonlathas sa tír seo. Is masla iomlán é sin don obair atá ar bun sa Teach seo. Cuireann sé díomá orm go bhfuil an Taoiseach ag cur an oiread sin béime ar seo agus ag iarraidh deiridh a chur le remit daonlathach don tír seo agus don Oireachtas.

I have listened to the debate on this issue and know that certain Members of the Seanad have been criticised for their passion during the course of the debate. That was wrong. Every Member has an obligation to speak passionately about this issue. It is on our watch that legislation will be passed to extinguish or abolish this House. Therefore, we have an obligation not only to ourselves and the House but to every past and prospective Member to uphold the Constitution and speak our minds freely and openly on this very issue.

We are living in the best of times but also living in very dangerous times. I use the word "dangerous" because of the dictatorial attitude of the Government towards our democratic institutions. Four members of the Cabinet are ruling the roost and deciding that democracy comes at a price. That price, as we know, is power. I say this because, before the last general election, the current Taoiseach, who was then the Leader of the Opposition, committed, against the better judgment of many respectable people within his party, to abolishing an institution of the Oireachtas, Seanad Éireann. The reason, of course, was to gain political popularity for Fine Gael, not to bring about the political reform the country requires. That was wrong and no one, irrespective of what office he holds, should play politics with any institution of the State, particularly the democratic institution of Seanad Éireann.

There will be a vote on this issue this afternoon. Members of Fine Gael and the Labour Party, as well as a number of the Independents, will most likely vote in favour of the legislation, which is regrettable, but it shows that the party whip system is clearly being imposed, although not on the Independents, to ensure Members vote in accordance with the Taoiseach's wishes.

That is exactly what is happening here, nothing else. The Taoiseach is imposing a party whip system whereby people are voting against their own beliefs. I appeal to people, even at this late stage, to challenge it and ask whether it is the right thing to do. In recent weeks, we have spoken about conscience in this House and it has also been discussed in the Lower House and the media concerning another piece of legislation. Conscience comes into every piece of legislation, however, particularly one which will affect our democracy now and long into the future.

Ireland does need political reform and that was talked about before the last general election. We all subscribe to that, including my own party Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin, Labour and Fine Gael. We need to reform the political institutions of the State. The economic crisis has clearly shown the limits of governmental structures. In the years leading up to the banking crisis the topic of financial regulation was only mentioned three times in both Houses. That demonstrates that the Oireachtas suffers from a real lack of perspective and depth. We need root and branch reform of State institutions, reviewing all aspects of how we make the decisions that govern us as a people and which achieve the common good. At stake here is the potential for our democracy to thrive and flourish in future. No one could disagree with that.

In their election manifestos, both Fine Gael and the Labour Party proposed to abolish Seanad Éireann. However, the Government's failure to implement a holistic package of political reform measures means that the abolition of the Seanad will be little more than a cynical side-show, diverting attention from the Government's inaction on creating new politics. The severely limited Constitutional Convention, which avoids the big issues of Irish politics, exposes the lack of ambition and imagination by the Government for far-reaching reform. A referendum on the future of Seanad Éireann is little more than crude, knee-jerk, populism that will disrupt a significant part of our constitutional architecture with no clear thought of what impact it will have.

We fully recognise that serious questions must be asked about the continued role of Seanad Éireann. We all subscribe to that. If, after 75 years, we are struggling to justify the existence of Seanad Éireann, then it is only right that we should ask those questions. The proposals being put forward by our own party answer those legitimate questions by building on the work of expert reviews and the lessons of the past few years. It puts forward a fresh vision for the Seanad and will act as a check on the Government, scrutinise legislation, and represent voices that would otherwise not be heard in our national Parliament.

There are other ways of doing this, for example, by examining a reformed, holistic Seanad. Before the last general election, the Government promised political reform. The Taoiseach, Deputy Kenny, made a big issue of this and said that the way politics was done in this country would be changed forever. He went before the people promising that and, of course, everyone believed him. The Irish people voted for Fine Gael on the basis that politics had to be cleaned up and changed. Everybody subscribed to that idea, but what has happened since? More quangos have been created and more State jobs have been filled. I have the facts to prove it. The biggest quango of all was created when the direct elections to the State board, Údarás na Gaeltachta, were dropped. Some 16 people were democratically elected to it since 1979. However, a piece of legislation was driven through this House but when I and others tried to amend it not one amendment was accepted. Since then, those 16 places have been replaced by 12 Fine Gael and Labour Party activists.