Dr. Maurice Manning:

On my own behalf and that of Mr. Joe O'Toole, it is a great honour to be back here again. We had a full debate on the report the last day we were here when we made opening statements which are available and in which we outlined the way in which the working party had operated and the principles we felt should be part of any body of Seanad reforms. We worked on the fact that everything had to be done within the framework of the Constitution and outlined various ways by which the electorate could be greatly expanded, effectively to the point of universal suffrage, while at the same time retaining as far as possible the vocational nature of the Seanad. We tried to go back to first principles, to the House the founders of Seanad Éireann had envisaged. In our report we tried to indicate the powers, role and functions that would be appropriate to such a reform.

We noted clearly that the House had been in a state of constant reform in the past decade or so and that the question of reform had concerned and engaged the attention of many Members. We also noted that many of the reforms made would - some as they were and some capable of being developed - form the basis for the role we envisaged was intended for Seanad Éireann as a body that would not be in competition with Dáil Éireann but which would fulfil a different role and do many of the things not being done in the First House. That is what we outlined the last day when my colleague went into detail - he is prepared to do so again - on how some of the changes proposed would operate in practice. We were very pleased with the response from Seanad Éireann. There was a general welcome for both the idea of reform and some of the proposals made. There were some constructive suggestions and we are very glad to be back here today to continue the debate.