David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I do not have a prepared statement but I would like to put on record a couple of matters. As Senator Zappone has said, I have spoken and campaigned for Seanad reform over the last 30 years and more. When the proposal to abolish Seanad Éireann was launched, I and a number of other people met outside in the ante room to get a committee going and so on and so forth. We were on the way to that. We had two of these informal meetings. Then it was taken over as a vanity project by the people proposing this Bill, Senators Zappone and Quinn. I stepped back. I said, "If it works, that is the only thing that matters. If it works, it does not matter what the motivation is." I attempted to be included. Although I attempted to become informed and be briefed, I was, like other people, ruthlessly excluded. This Bill does not emerge from Seanad Éireann.