David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

A number of questions arise. It seems to me that this is a very honourable amendment because my colleagues are not looking for money for themselves. The money would go back to the Exchequer. They are not looking for any personal, pecuniary advantage. In fact, they would be giving an advantage to the State.

With regard to elections, in the other House people are not just elected because they are a member of a political party. Very often parties try to slide candidates in and the public rejects them. They will go for somebody whom they know has worked locally. It is not true to say that one is elected just because one happens to be a member of Fine Gael, Sinn Féin, the Labour Party or Fianna Fáil. Since one is elected by the people, not by the party, it seems to me that it remains the money of the person elected and not the party’s money, in particular when one has left a party over an issue of conscience. It would make a cat laugh the way the Government has behaved because it was pushing hard for the abolition of the Seanad and going towards a Nordic situation. My two colleagues would have remained in the party in any of those Nordic countries because there are freedom of conscience votes on such issues. One cannot have it every way. It is important to put the figures on the record because they are large and they are correct. Senator O’Keeffe-----