Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank all involved in the process. I genuinely thought it was a very worthwhile exercise. There was not unanimity on the report. I am in favour of reform. I expressed my own views at the meetings. To be fair, the secretariat of Síle de Búrca and Amanda Reilly deserve our praise, as do the experts who came appeared before us. We had 13 meetings from May to December, which in many ways replicated the 13 reports that were put before us from 1928 to 2015. As Senator McDowell said, the Manning report is the bedrock of where we started from again. I welcome that. We have all participated in the group. I know that Senator McDowell articulated in his letter to the Taoiseach that it is not a matter that should be left to the initiative of the unreformed Seanad but on which the will of the people, as expressed through the Dáil, should be ascertained and implemented. The will of the people was to retain the Seanad. That is the question that was put to the people. The follow-on from that is a bit like Groundhog Day; we are here again discussing the matter. It is a bit like Brexit. The Senator is right. Those who want reform do not know what actual reform means and those who want to retain the present situation are steadfast in that.

To be honest, I am halfway in the middle in that I want to see an element kept, as we proposed in the report, and to see reform as we have outlined as well. As Senator McDowell is aware, I have serious concerns regarding some of the content of the report. That is the reason our party put a minority view in, as did the Sinn Féin Party and Deputy Broughan. Deputy Broughan made a point in the report which coincides with a view I hold, namely, that the people should have a further say in what happens in terms of reform. I think Sinn Féin is of the view that we should have elections to the Dáil and the Seanad on the same day.Is it time to have a White Paper?