David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

-----but because of his loyalty to this House when his party tried to suppress it. No attempt was made by Fine Gael to come to his aid.

My colleague, Dr. Sean Barrett, was unequivocally the best Member of the Senate. Many amendments in his name were successfully passed. He introduced a number of excellent legislative proposals and was an important and diligent member of the Joint Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis. Moreover, I understand that he was also frequently consulted by Government on economic matters. It was a travesty that such a man should lose his seat and an indication that the public remains largely unaware of the valuable work done by Senators.

In the period of the last Oireachtas, two major referenda were fought - one on marriage equality and the other on the abolition of the Senate. The move towards marriage equality started in this House with the Civil Partnership Bill 2004, something of which Seanad Éireann can feel legitimately proud.

In the debates on abolition, I was appalled that so many Senators on orders from party headquarters actually voted for the destruction of their own House. I said at the time that they were not just turkeys voting for Christmas but turkeys who obligingly rolled over and then trussed, stuffed and eviscerated themselves.

With three weeks to go, we were losing the referendum according to the opinion polls. I discharged myself from hospital and together with the former Senators, Dr. Barrett and Professor Crown, turned it around just in time. John Crown night after night eviscerated Cabinet Ministers on Radio Éireann. Sean Barrett marshalled meetings in every university in the Republic. I did the "Ray D’Arcy Show" as well as all the provincial radio stations and commanded a national Twitter campaign. In the end, we prevailed. The Taoiseach admitted taking a knock and in Dublin Castle Yard promised reform but nothing is happening. There is already in existence a Dáil reform committee but, as yet, no sign of a Seanad reform committee, and I hereby call on the Taoiseach to include reform of the Seanad in the remit of this committee.