Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is fair to say that it would certainly be a much more diminished role for local authority members than they currently have. Like I said, we have a Supreme Court judgment now that Government has to respond to. The deadline is set. It is not practical to change how we elect the Seanad for the next Seanad election. That is only 15 months away at most. However, it is a necessity that it be done for the subsequent one. That has to be done now. We have options. It can be a minimalist reform that relates just to the universities. We could do as little as just add one university. I do not think that would be a solution. We could add all of the universities, but then we would be in the very strange position of having maybe 1 million people enfranchised to elect only six seats. That would create difficulties in itself, and it triggers the need to have a comprehensive forum to reform how the Seanad is elected but I firmly believe that it should not be within the current constitutional restraints. They do not make it possible to have a Seanad reform that would be desirable and supported by the public. I have outlined some of the reasons that would be the case.

Regarding Senator Doherty's comments on CAMHS-----