Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I echo the points made about how we do business. It is a concern that by the end of next week we will probably have had more Bills go through all Stages than went through the entire last Seanad by means of the "all Stages" mechanism.That is a real concern because the job we are all elected to do is legislative scrutiny. The very real and thoughtful concerns that Senator Sherlock expressed on social welfare payments and the insight that everyone on all sides of the House may have about different Bills is not being given an opportunity to be properly engaged with, to be properly considered by Ministers and to be an aid to them in improving legislation. We need to look at that and make a very clear statement that that is not how business is going to continue. Certainly, when we return in September we cannot be in a situation where there is not an appropriate opportunity for scrutiny between Committee and Report Stages of legislation. In the past, this is very often where things have actually happened because an amendment brought in good faith on Committee Stage may be engaged with by a Department and then by Report Stage become a Government amendment. That is a healthy conversation and we are missing the opportunity for that at the moment. I urge that we look at how we plan to move forward with the legislative process and of course all of those other matters being addressed in the Dáil where Members are having debates on the July stimulus package, for example. In our very first session in this Chamber there were calls for a debate on the package prior to its announcement. We did not have such a debate. Now, we should at least have some opportunity next week to reflect on it. There are very good measures in that package. Some measures relating to public services and the arts need to be strengthened. That input from us can help to inform the October strategy. As such it is important that we have the Seanad doing its work.

In that same spirit of valuing the Seanad and caring about what it does, I am very happy to support the taking of No. 5 before No. 1 today, which relates to the introduction of the Seanad Reform Bill 2020. Many of us, across all sides of the House, entered the previous Seanad very keen to move forward on this issue. I am looking at Senator Ned O'Sullivan and thinking of Senators Warfield, McDowell and others. We put a great many hours into thinking about how we could move forward with Seanad reform. We wanted to reflect the mandate given by the public in 1979 for the expansion of the university franchise and in 2013 when the public, many of whom had no vote in Seanad elections, and who as non-graduates may never have had a vote, voted to retain the Seanad and reform it. I am glad that new Members are also interested in these issues and I hope that we make this Seanad the place where we constructively find ways to move forward.