Jim D'Arcy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House to deal with this most important Bill, the Local Government Reform Bill. I spent many years on a local authority with the Minister of State and he was top class, as he is as a Minister of State.

In his opening contribution the Minister referred to the 1832 reform Act and its role in the development of democratic government. He compared the Local Government Reform Bill to that reform Act. There was another reform Act in 1867 - the second great reform Act. As the Minister of State will know from his great knowledge, the Conservative Party had set its face against extension of the franchise in 1832, but in 1867 Mr. Disraeli turned it upside down by giving the vote to everybody. Everybody at the time meant every man, by the way.