Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Taoiseach ar ais go dtí an Seanad. Tá súil agam go dtiocfaidh sé ar ais go minic tar éis an lá seo. The Taoiseach is never one to engage in bombastic triumphalism and he certainly will not get it from this side of the House. I welcome his open remarks on the potential for the reform of a House that, in his opinion, apparently, three or four weeks ago was unreformable.

I wish to make a couple of brief comments on the campaign. The people rejected the Taoiseach’s proposal. To use his own phrase, Paddy does like to know the story. Paddy knew the story and saw through some of the very cynical and dishonest methods used, in particular by the Fine Gael Party, in the campaign. I will not dwell on it, but I urge the Taoiseach to ensure campaigns in future referendums that he intends to hold will be honest and based on fact.

By way of reform, I ask the Taoiseach to look at the powers of both the Referendum Commission and the Standards in Public Office Commission, particularly the former. Should campaigning and posters be patently incorrect such as the reference to a saving of €20 million, something should be done about it. The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Richard Bruton, and others kept talking about it, but it was proved to be incorrect. The Referendum Commission had no power to ask any party in the recent referendum to remove incorrect information. I, therefore, ask the Taoiseach to, please, examine the issue. That is all I will say on the campaign because it is done. The Taoiseach will find partners in Fianna Fáil, through me, to assist in the reform of this House.

I was pleased when the Taoiseach mentioned he was talking about the reform of the Oireachtas because the Seanad as an institution has been treated as the sick man of the Oireachtas when patently it is obvious to those of us who have served in both Houses and watch politics that there are major deficiencies in the political processes for successive Governments. I do not lay the blame at the Taoiseach’s door for this. We will engage in a real reform process but one that is more than what has happened in Dáil Éireann. Last Thursday the Government allowed 50 minutes to discuss the issue Dáil reform, which amounted to five minutes per speaker. Government backbenchers were excluded from the debate. I put it to the Taoiseach that if we want reform and to find the best ideas on how to run Parliament, we must be more inclusive than this. Being more inclusive is not coming forward with supposed reforms in the Dáil that are not allowed to be debated. My party had ten minutes to discuss the issue.

Neither is reform about publishing a Social Welfare Bill yesterday evening that will affect hundreds of thousands of people, debating it in the Dáil tomorrow and Friday and then guillotining the debate. People want to see an Oireachtas that works. How could the Oireachtas allow a situation where the primary Chamber for debate, Dáil Éireann, is closed following two days of debate on the Social Welfare Bill? I am pleased to inform the Taoiseach that there will be no use of the guillotine in the Seanad in the debate on the Bill. The Bill will be brought to the House on 5 November. That is the way it should be. We can play a positive role in that regard, as we have done. What irked a number of people was that the perception was that we had, in effect, been sitting around doing nothing for two and a half years, which was not true.

I am pleased the Taoiseach is going to initiate a process whereby we can examine EU directives and statutory instruments. Hundreds of pieces of legislation become law in this country without debate. This Chamber could do such work for the Taoiseach.

I ask the Taoiseach to allow additional time in this House for Private Members’ Bills from individual Senators to be published and debated. We have 12 such Bills ready, but it will take me two years to get them through the House because of the amount of time allocated. That is something we could do. The relaxation of the Whip system could also be examined.

By whom and how the Members of the Seanad are elected is a major issue that requires to be examined. It is not one that can be decided today, but the Taoiseach will find partners among my Fianna Fáil colleagues to move forward with real reforms. I very much welcome his presence in the House today and hope we will see him here more regularly from now on.