Quinn urges significant cut in number of TDs

SEANAD REPORT:FEARGAL QUINN (Ind) has called for a dramatic reduction in the number of Dáil TDs.

He noted An Bord Snip Nua had proposed a number of ways to reduce the cost of State services. “If we are asking citizens to accept cuts, how about some of these cuts taking place in this building?”

A change to the number of Senators would require a referendum. But the number of TDs was fixed by law within flexible constitutional constraints. “It seems to me that if we decided that instead having close to one for every 20,000 [of population], we said one for every 30,000, we would have a dramatic reduction in the number of Dáil deputies.

“I suggest that that‘s something we in these Houses should consider immediately.”

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Stressing the need for individuals with concerns about the well-being of friends or acquaintances to inquire if they were depressed or thinking of self-harming, Mary White (FF) said she had recently been able to help a person in this regard. Pointing out that next Sunday was World Mental Health Day, Ms White said that despite the fact that we were all talking more about suicide and self-harm, there was still a great deal of ignorance and sharp criticism of those suffering from mental illness.

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Paschal Mooney (FF) said it had been brought to his attention that rural post offices were under threat primarily because of a decision by Eircom to introduce a minimum of €20 for payment of bills at such offices. In addition to this, O2 had unilaterally transferred all its customers to electronic billing. These steps represented an attack on the most vulnerable, particularly elderly people who collected their social welfare entitlements in post offices and paid their utility bills in manageable instalments.

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The Seanad was becoming irrelevant because it was not being given the opportunity to debate the burning issues of the day, Shane Ross (Ind) said. “Why, in the name of God, did we not debate yesterday the HSE waste, the Siptu situation?”

There should be a debate on the power of trade unions, of which those on the Government side were all scared. He had pleaded, unsuccessfully, for debates on Fás. “Now you are all on the same bandwagon, condemning it when the horse has bolted.”