Paudie Coffey (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this debate and I commend the proposers and seconders of the Bill. It is a timely debate and, as somebody who has had the honour to serve in this House, the Lower House and on the local authority, I believe that however a person arrives in this House every person under the Constitution, every Senator who sits in this chamber, has a constitutional right to be a voice in this Chamber, despite what Senator Craughwell has just said. I say that as a former elected Senator, as a former Dáil Deputy and as a former Minister of State. Senator Craughwell should respect that because, by his words, he has denigrated the Chamber itself-----