Ned O'Sullivan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I join the Leader and my County Kerry colleague, Senator Paul Coghlan, in expressing my deepest sympathy to Veda and the rest of the Blennerhassett family on the death of John. He was a good friend of mine, even though we were politically apart. He offered great encouragement to young councillors and was forthcoming with advice. He was highly respected. He came from an historic family with political involvement in County Kerry dating back to Home Rule days. Members of the family were always strongly nationalist and even though they were of a different religious persuasion from the majority of those in the county, they were part of the fabric of society. John's death reminded me of the many great Senators County Kerry had produced over the years from all parties. I will start with my cousin, Kit Ahern, and mention Jackie Daly, a friend and colleague of Senator Paul Coghlan. Others include Jackie Brosnan and Joe O'Toole from the INTO. They all gave great service to County Kerry. When Kerry people go to the polls in the referendum, they will think of the service these Senators gave to their constituency, county and country. That is what will inform the voters of County Kerry and elsewhere around the country rather than the unfair and - I will not use an unparliamentary word - untruthful campaign being pursued by Fine Gael. Instead of apologising and whipping down his posters, the campaign director for Fine Gael, the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, is brazenly ignoring the statements of the chairperson of the Referendum Commission and the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission on his erroneous figure of €20 million. There is something seriously wrong with that attitude, but I do not think the people will fall for it.

I am concerned that the Government has made it clear that if the people, in their wisdom, decide to vote "No," it will not reform the Seanad, nor will it allow us to do so. That is a threat to the people. Everybody agrees that the Seanad needs reform, but if the people do not go along with the Taoiseach's line, there will be no reform. Talk about throwing the rattle out of the pram.

I have made it my life's work never to comment on the media. The great Benjamin Disraeli once advised some of his colleagues who were upset by the media that they should never explain and never complain.

It is a maxim by which I lived until recent reports were printed, mainly in the Irish Independent, about the referendum on the Seanad. My colleague, Senator Wilson, referred to the reports and some of them were appalling. One must ask what is the editorial situation in the Irish Independent. Why does it constantly bang out articles timed very much to push the electorate to a certain verdict in the referendum? Yesterday's article was a classic example. Somebody was working on it for long time and produced it ten days before the referendum, but it does not give the full clear picture. Not only is democracy under threat from politicians, but we are starting to come under threat from the big media moguls we have seen throughout the world. We also have them in Ireland.