David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We did indeed and I will get to that. If I had a choice, I would vote against the Bill but it will not be pushed to a division. It would take a brave politician to go back to the people again on Seanad abolition and nobody is inclined to do so. If a constitutional convention was held on Seanad reform and it recommended changes, I would support that and those changes could be put to the people. No party is recommending that and there is no prospect of a referendum to abolish the House any time soon. That means it is here to stay and that we must reform it in the interests of the people.

The Taoiseach was partly right in his comments prior to the referendum that there are many disparate views about how to reform the House and many documents sitting on shelves. People mentioned the Mary O'Rourke report but there were many other reports as well. There were different opinions but there was also a commonality in many of them, including proposed representation from Northern Ireland and the diaspora, the principle of a universal franchise and measures to deal with the elitist nature of the House. There was some, although not absolute, consensus on many issues. This means there is the prospect of a reformed Seanad, something which would win the support of almost every political party and grouping.

I commend the work of the forum. Given the remit its members had, they came up with a good document that points the way forward to a reformed House. Given the constraints they faced, they made positive recommendations. The obvious constraint was that they were told that constitutional change was out of the question and that they had to compile a report based on what was possible through legislation. They have come up with a fair way forward. If those recommendations were implemented, they would represent a huge step forward. It may not be enough for me but it would be a huge step forward.

It might be useful following the election - whenever it is called and depending on who is in government - to set up a fresh constitutional convention to examine many outstanding issues that were not considered by the previous convention. The latter worked well and some issues were put to the people. A number of referenda relating to its recommendations still have not have taken place. However, the model worked well and could be used again. I would like a fresh constitutional convention to examine Seanad and Dáil reform, to forensically go through the different options, including the options published by the forum, and to push the boundaries to consider what would be possible if constitutional change were allowed. We should not be afraid to go back to the people with a proposal for a referendum on reforming the Seanad. While people voted to retain the House, they also voted to reform it. That is my view and I cannot base it on anything other than how the canvass went and on what people said to me. That is anecdotal, although some opinion polls reflected it as well. We should not be afraid to go back to the people to support reform of the Seanad. I do not favour asking them to vote again on abolishing the House. The people stated their case and voted to retain it.

I make no apologies for my party seeking to abolish the Seanad. However, the people voted to keep it. This is democracy and I accept that. It is entirely legitimate for people to say that the Seanad should be abolished. That is a clear political view that people had and they were entitled to it. Political parties were entitled to put that view forward. The only option given to us was to abolish or to retain the House as it is. No reform was, therefore, put to the people. We were offered a simple, clear choice. We had our position which we had adopted through Ard-Fheiseanna, which is, again, democratic. We make no apologies for the fact that we went to the people with a view that if this was the simple choice, we would opt for abolition. However, the people voted to retain the House and the question now is what do we do?

I have a concern about whether all the reforms in the forum report will be implemented. When I made my maiden speech, I talked about Seanad reform and someone within my party who is seen as a cynic said he would place a bet that the next Seanad election would be the same as that which preceded it and that there would be no reform of any description, the university and vocational panels would be same and the Taoiseach's appointees would remain. That is what has happened. Let us hope that following the upcoming Seanad election, we do not go into the subsequent election without any reform again. That would be a slap in the face for all those who voted for Seanad reform.

The Bill does not go far enough. The intention behind it is worthy, as is the extension of the franchise in Seanad by-elections. However, there should be a universal franchise and that would happen if the other reforms were implemented. The reforms recommended in the forum report would go much further and would be much better and I support them. I will not put the question to a division but if there was one, I would vote against the Bill. Committee Stage is the forum to amend the legislation and, therefore, I will not oppose it today.