Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Listening to my friend and colleague, Senator Higgins, asking the Minister to convince her and give her a reason, I wondered what incentive there is for the Minister to give people a reason to believe when they are quite ready to go ahead and vote for a Bill that is being guillotined in the House, as the last one, on the 39th amendment, was. Provided this debate continues to the scheduled time, there will be another guillotine when it will all be wrapped up again and put as one question.

It is scandalous that a Government would do business on that basis, especially in the context of a proposed amendment to the Constitution. It is scandalous that any Senator would go along with that, however he or she feels about the principles of the Bill. No democrat should vote for guillotined legislation except in emergency situations. We have argued that case up and down here over the years. We have had promises that legislation would not be guillotined and then the day comes when legislation is guillotined for no good reason. The people on the Government’s side - the faithful electoral minions - go along with it, allowing the Government to disrespect the Oireachtas of the people in so doing.

I find it sad because the colleagues here, for whom I have great respect, are intellectually stimulating and sparkling, the best of company and full of intellectual curiosity, but generally only outside of this Chamber. Once the Government has expressed its will, they just go along with things. It is a pity that anybody who is not bound by a Government Whip would go along with voting for guillotined legislation. I do not deny that they have an absolute right to be in favour of the legislation overall. That is not the point. The guillotining of legislation corrupts the process. A rejection of legislation that is being pushed through by guillotine would push and force the Government to do things in the proper way; it would not end this referendum journey.

I call on my colleagues to reflect on that point because there will be another time, who knows when, when they will object to legislation and no doubt feel much more strongly about its being guillotined through. Whether a person is for or against it should not matter. No democrat should vote for the guillotining of legislation except in emergency situations.

I have heard the many interesting things said. I always listen to my colleague, Senator Higgins, with great interest. However, I noticed that she, among others, mentioned the views of certain prominent women at the time of the 1937 referendum who did not like the provision that relates not to women’s place within the home but the privileging of mothers and their duties within the home. That was the precise reference.