Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

There was an attempt to abolish this House in 2013, before I was elected here. I worked hard during that attempt to save this House, as did many people. My colleague, Senator Clonan, has put forward an amendment to the Order of Business today which I am seconding. It proposes that we do not take anything more than Committee Stage of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023.

I can understand that there are times when legislation is urgent and needs to be passed through the House quickly but this is a total undermining of the role of this House. We are well paid and well looked after in this establishment. We owe it to those who put us here to perform in the way we are expected to perform. We are a revising or reforming House of Parliament. We are here to look at legislation and to give it full consideration. As Senator Clonan said in the debate over the past two days on the amendments to the Constitution, many good amendments were discussed but none would be taken, irrespective of how good they were. Why? It is because there was a guillotine that meant the legislation had to be finished yesterday so we can have the referendum votes on International Women's Day – an old scam, that is all it was. This House was used as a scam to provide a vehicle for the Government to hold a referendum on International Women's Day.

On the last day that this Bill was in the House, we had the appalling debacle of the two main Government parties at each other's throats.