David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. I did not intend to speak on this motion but it is clearly a Trojan horse. It is an attempt by Fianna Fáil to raise questions on the McNulty election to the Seanad. For that reason, I decided to speak on it. I understand that a number of distinguished visual and other artists are in the Gallery, and I wonder what they think of the fact that once again we are playing politics with the arts for partisan advantage. I regret that.

The most significant thing about the election has not been mentioned, namely, that we are having an election in the most rotten borough in Europe. There are 225 votes for a seat in a national Parliament. What kind of democracy is that? The Taoiseach stands over this while he simultaneously dilutes the only democratic element, the university seats, by expanding them to 850,000 voters from the existing 65,100 and 100,000, respectively. That is the scandal. This motion is a Trojan horse because it is about politics rather than the arts.

The arts are the soul of a country and one cannot sell them out. There is a touch of Paudeen fiddling in the till about this debate. I believe that when all this fuss settles down, Fianna Fáil is just as cynical as everybody else on this. I heard its Members speak about voting for McNulty just to embarrass the Government. How much of a stroke is that? I heard Senator Mark Daly say that he would not vote for Mr. Craughwell because he was in the British army. He was also in the English army. I am not in favour of armies at all. When it comes to 1916 and the Proclamation of Independence, I am one of the people who has actually read the bloody thing.