Undoubtedly. We hope to make this Dáil of some use to the country, and it can only be made of use if we are to have serious debate on all questions that come before us. I do very strongly fear that if that particular Senator were added to the members of the Executive Council who delight in turning the Dáil into a bear garden, then the chances of serious constructive work being done here would be very considerably lessened. The Executive Council must have some person in mind when they actually go to the trouble of introducing a Bill to amend the Constitution, the fundamental law of the State, in order to permit one member of the Seanad to become a member of the Executive Council. They must have strong reasons for doing so. We know that they do not think much of the Constitution really, no matter what they may say during election times, and a mere amending Bill is a matter of no consequence to them. But even the expense of printing the Bill must have been considered before it was decided to introduce it.
Is there a single member of the Seanad whose inclusion in the Executive Council would justify the cost of printing this Bill? I cannot think of one. Perhaps the President would enlighten us on the point. Of course, I am now excluding from consideration the six just men to whom I already had occasion to make reference, like the cities in Bible history. But six just men do not redeem the Seanad. I think it is extremely unlikely that the Executive Council would be thinking of any one of these six individuals as a colleague in the Executive Council. It must be some one of the remaining fifty-four, and there is not a single one of the remaining fifty-four capable, in my opinion, of acting as a member of the Dáil, much less as a member of the Executive Council, although I will admit that it is possibly easier to get members of the Executive Council than it is to get members of the Dáil; the standard of knowledge and ability is not so high, and the entrance examination is possibly easier. I would like, however, to get the information as to whom the Executive Council have in mind. They come here, produce a Bill, and put that Bill before us, they ask us to pass it, and they succeed in getting it a Second Reading. Then they come to amend it—possibly they had the amendment in mind all the time—and we find that the whole purpose of the Bill is to enable one member of the Seanad to be brought into the Executive Council.
It would be much straighter, much fairer and better to say: "We think that Senator X., Senator Y or Senator Z is the man on whom the fate of the country depends. If we get him in as Minister for anything, or as Minister for everything, we will be able to solve all the problems that have heretofore baffled us." If that is the case let us know. If it is merely to provide for some possible contingency, the contingency that someone might be elected to the Seanad who was capable of acting in a ministerial office, I think this Bill is useless, and that it was only wasting the time of the Dáil to have brought it before us, because it is extremely likely that, by the time any vacancy will arise in the Executive Council to be filled, the Seanad will not be there at all. I read in last Sunday's edition of the "Independent" that there is likely to be a General Election this summer. If that should happen, we can see the end of the life of the Seanad; it disappears before the end of the year, in which case probably this Bill will have proved so much waste of energy. Not that very much energy was displayed, either in its introduction or in the manner of its presentation, because it was very listlessly placed before the House, as if the Executive Council was not enthusiastic about it, but then I can understand that the President cannot be enthusiastic about any of his colleagues. I would ask the President, as a matter of courtesy, to tell us what is behind this. There is obviously something behind it, and we would very much like to know what it is, if for no other reason than to satisfy our curiosity.
