Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----under the Constitution. This is how the Constitution is structured and I resent the word "hacks" being used in reference to Members of the Oireachtas.

One of the issues that has not been highlighted is that the Taoiseach has appointed 12 people in total to the Seanad, eight of whom were women. He has appointed only two people from the Fine Gael Party out of the 12 people, with three from the Labour Party and seven Independents. That is his record to date on which we have had no discussion in the media. For three days last week we had non-stop commentary on one issue without any reference to the 12 people the Taoiseach appointed previously.