Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am broadly in support of the notion of a Bill to reform the Seanad, although I have some serious difficulties with some of what is in this Bill. We are probably suffering from an Irish problem, which is that if we have not got it right first time we put it back on the shelf and wait 40 years before taking it down again and brushing the dust off it. Anybody who has ever been at school knows the way to write an essay is to sit down and start writing. The Bill is here in front of us. A lot of work has been put into it and I commend both Senators for bringing it forward. I do think it will need serious debate. What I do not want to see happen is what I am beginning to hear, namely, the notion that we can reform the university seats, broaden that out, and to hell with the rest of it. If we are going to reform the Seanad we should take it root and branch and open it more to the people of this country.