Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the contributions of Senators Malcolm Byrne, Tom Clonan, Maria Byrne, Rónán Mullen, Fintan Warfield, Michael McDowell and Alice-Mary Higgins. I have immense regard for Senator McDowell, as he knows. I should put on record that I campaigned against the abolition of this House in 2013 - the referendum was in October 2013 - and my party campaigned against its abolition. I know many Fine Gael Members also did so because they disagreed with the then Taoiseach and the job he wanted done. More importantly, the Irish people disagreed at that stage and voted to retain the Seanad. Since then, there have been reports, including the work done by Senator McDowell. I cannot comment on meetings he had with the former Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, but Deputy Varadkar has always been on record as being an abolitionist, so I am not sure whether that conversation with him came as a big surprise to the Senator.