John Crown (Independent) | Oireachtas source

What could be simpler? The people said "No" to abolishing the Seanad. We are all democrats and we believe that we should have a popularly, generally enfranchised second Chamber, elected in a different fashion from the first Chamber, so that we have people representing a different spectrum of interests; perhaps not local electoral constituency interests, but more national interests. What could be simpler?

We have a number of opportunities with various reform Bills - including the Bill from my esteemed colleagues, Senators Quinn and Zappone, my own Bill, and now the Fianna Fáil Bill - to deal with substantive reform. If the early signals we are getting here mean anything, it seems to me that there is going to be no reform whatsoever. There will be a little bit of adjusting around the edges, changing the way we elect the current six university Senators. By the way, I will support that. Anything that increases the number of people who have a direct popular vote for any seat in this House is something I will support. I will support enthusiastically anything that moves us away from a situation in which 200,000 people elect six Senators, 1,000 people elect 43 Senators, and one person elects 11 Senators. It can only be an improvement. That is what we should all be striving for.

The whole question of political reform is not hung just on the Seanad. Much as we like to think it, we are not the centre of the political universe or the centre of politics in Ireland. We are what we are. It has been an interesting forum for debating meaningful political change. Such change should apply not only to the processes of this House but to politics in general. Right at the core of it, we are seeing example after example of the system's failings - specifically, how they revolve around the Whips in the Dáil. It should be an opportunity for us in this House to try to break free from the turgid shackles of whipped, unthinking, slavish, sheepdog-like behaviour and, instead, to think, come up with some constructive suggestions, and vote with our consciences on how we can make the politics of this country a little bit better. I see no evidence of it, however.

We know who the winners are when the true democrats start behaving like this. Those recent converts to democracy, who may have a rather lukewarm commitment to it, suddenly start to look not so bad when those who are supposed to be the expert exponents and passionate devotees of democracy start behaving in a fashion that is a little bit undemocratic.

I am sorry that Senator Paul Coghlan has left, because I wanted to ask him about a point of information. I know that today many people in his esteemed County Kerry decided that they might elect to have it deemed an island in a separate category from the rest of the country.