Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I commend Senators Byrne, Cassells and Casey for bringing the Bill forward. If nothing else it has facilitated debate and conversation around this topic. I am happy that we are discussing reform rather than abolition of the Seanad. That was the last big debate. I was utterly opposed to abolition because we offer an important check and balance on the work of Dáil Éireann. We also do our own work in terms of policy development, legislation and the scrutiny of legislation coming from Dáil Éireann.

I have served in Dáil Éireann and I do not think I have seen a Deputy get to his or her feet to criticise and denigrate their own House. We should not do too much of that. There are many positives about this House. We do things better, in some regards. There is far less parochialism, from what I have seen. The university Senators, in particular, are less burdened by constituency work and have more time to engage with legislation, scrutiny and policy development. There are many fine things about the House.

Reform of the vocational panels is needed because they were born in the 1930s, which was a different Ireland. There is a very positive link to many stakeholders across all of those panels. One of the very positive things about the vocational panels is that one must qualify in order to stand for election. That is why there is such diversity in terms of our experiences and qualifications across the House. There are lawyers, teachers, farmers, horticulturists, educators and academics. Many in the House have skills. Every single person that has contested the elections for the House has some qualification or experience behind him or her to support that candidacy. That is a positive.

Let us be positive about the House and the things that we do well and, sometimes, better than Dail Éireann. Let us have a little less of the criticism. I fully accept this is a small element of the reform that is needed and much more is needed. I concur with Senator McDowell's very finely put argument that we need to expand the franchise. Every citizen should have a stronger link to the Seanad. I do not agree that there is no link, because I agree with Senator Conway that there is a direct link through county councillors whom people elect. We are all, of course, open to taking phone calls and emails from any citizen of the country. I welcome the debate because we are moving in the right direction of reform rather than abolition.