Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

According to today's thejournal.ie poll, 49% of respondents want this House to be kept and 17% want it to be abolished. We have all detected this movement in recent days. We prayed and worked for it. It is happening. It is a credit to most Members of this House who believe we should be allowed to continue.

I note the Taoiseach's difficulty with debating this issue. One of the solutions suggested at last night's meeting in Trinity College, which Senator Bacik mentioned, was the one used when Deputy Adams was not allowed to appear on television. Happily, that restriction has gone and he appears frequently. An actor was used. As the Taoiseach has banned himself from appearing on television, could we not get the Deputy Adams actor to play his role? That would help to promote the debate.

I wish to inform the House of correspondence that I received this morning from someone in what is probably one of the staunchest loyalist towns in Northern Ireland. In the writer's opinion, it would be a shame if Seanad Éireann were to disappear from the face of the Earth, and the writer also expressed the opinion that while the existing arrangements were a kind of political anomaly, it was one that should be preserved at all costs. I also received correspondence from Ontario. The person wrote that he or she had delivered some literature in Oakville last weekend and that Rodge would be bringing some items to the Queen's Head that night.

Members on the Government benches should not turn their backs on people in Northern Ireland or Irish citizens overseas. According to a UCD study last week, 62% of emigrants now have a vote in both university constituencies. I wanted 100% while the Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, wanted 0%. We should vote for the higher number and not let down people in Northern Ireland or the emigrants.

I also wish to raise a most important issue that has been published in the current edition of the Connacht Tribune. It is a claim by the current Minister of State, Deputy Ciarán Cannon, that he was offered a bribe by a Member of the Seanad in 2009. He is in favour of abolition. Deputy Cannon stated:

The final straw for me was in early 2009 when, as a Progressive Democrat Senator, my Fianna Fáil colleagues became suspicious that I was about to quit the government benches and join Fine Gael in opposition. I was approached by a very senior Fianna Fáil Senator and told that if I remained "on side" that Fianna Fáil would guarantee me a seat for life in the Seanad, with a nice salary and the spare time to pursue another career alongside my "guaranteed" Seanad seat.

I have looked up the Standards in Public Office Commission's records and it appears that this was never reported in 2009.