Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that, and I appreciate what the Minister of State was trying to do in that regard.

Those are some of the points I want to put on the record. I support Senator McDowell. I will take the axe to some of the sections in the Bill to try to amend them to reflect where I believe we should be going but this is the first step. It is important that all of us get behind the legislation and try to drive it forward as a unified group.Senator McDowell is correct that this is the place to start. One of the great regrets I had about the reform document by group of former Senators Maurice Manning and Joe O'Toole was that there was no sitting Member of the Seanad on it. I sincerely hope, if a group is put together to see this Bill implemented, that there are more Senators than Deputies on it and that the interests of the Seanad are up front and not the interests of political parties. That has got to be the overall driving criteria behind it. I thank the Minister for his time and for coming to the House.