Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am tempted to tell Senator Gavan that is some coalition of names but I had better not as I might get another comment. What the Senator referred to is not necessarily about Seanad reform. It is about the nature of the discourse and the debate we have here. Under the Constitution we do not mirror the Dáil and should not follow the Dáil. We set our own rules and our own criteria within the constitutional parameters we have. Certainly, I very much agree with the Senator. The Seanad had an all-party committee on Brexit, the report of which is not sitting on a shelf.It is very much part of the approach taken by the Government, the Civil Service, and indeed by all of us. The harmony brought about by that report is very much part of what the Government is doing. On the issue of mental health, the Seanad Public Consultation Committee sat on a cross-party basis and produced an excellent report.

With regard to the health care issue raised by the Senator, our Seanad was deprived a vote and thus a say on the Sláintecare report because Members of this House from certain parties failed to support the representation of Seanadóirí on the relevant committee. We are not meant to follow the Dáil; we set our own agenda. For as long as I have been involved with and interested in politics, the Seanad has always been seen in a different light to the Dáil, be it by the media, by society in general, by Senators themselves or indeed by the Houses of the Oireachtas, and this is something that we have to address and change. Reform very much depends on the viewpoint taken and I would be very interested to listen to any remarks on the subject of Seanad reform. Senator McDowell has published his Bill and there have been different viewpoints on what is contained in it-----