Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I join with colleagues in expressing sincere sympathy to Kathleen Carty and her family on the death of John. Earlier comments were made about his public service as an agricultural officer and, interestingly, he spent some of that time in my home town of Drumshambo in County Leitrim, albeit before my time. He often spoke about that time with great affection. I would like to be associated with those remarks.

I would also like to be associated with the remarks of Senator Barrett and, more pertinently, with those of Senator O'Sullivan in the context of hastening slowly on Seanad reform. I agree with Senator O'Sullivan's analysis that there no evidence whatsoever to suggest that the Irish people, in their wisdom, when they voted to retain the Seanad did so for any one particular reason, but it seems the media and some other elements have taken it upon themselves to interpret the result as meaning that there had to be urgent reform. I believe it will be very difficult to engage in the type of reform proposals being suggested, for example, in the context of the panels. Having listened to the Minister of State's reply to the debate yesterday evening, it seems the Government is not keen on the idea of the universal franchise either because he pointed to the cost currently involved. It costs €5.25 to send out each vote under the current university franchise and if that were to be multiplied into millions of euro, the inference was that this would be a costly and prohibitive exercise. I agree with Senator O'Sullivan that one should hasten slowly in regard to reform. There are many reform initiatives that have already been initiated by the Leader that have been welcomed. I believe that is the road to go within the current framework of trying to expand the role of the Seanad without further referenda or legislation. There are many opportunities to do so.