Diarmuid Wilson (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Let us put the record straight. It was part of the Fine Gael manifesto for the general election of 1977. It does not make it any better because that should not have happened and it was wrong that it happened. There have been difficulties as a result. No one on this side of the House is saying that there have not been difficulties. As has been pointed out here by many colleagues and Senator Walsh and Senator Cullinane this morning, we are the most under-represented people in Europe as a result of this legislation if it goes through. It is part of the dictatorial policies of this Government. There was no plebiscite so that the Minister could decide without asking the people, the same as this House would be gone if the people had not to be consulted by this Government. That is the reality. The policy is to centralise all power and authority here in Dublin and disenfranchise the people of the Twenty-six Counties of the representation to which they are entitled, in particular, the people of rural Ireland and of the west and north west.