As pointed out by Fianna Fáil Deputies here to-day, this Bill increases the power of the Seanad; it increases their power to hold up Bills for eighteen months. It makes it possible for them to keep a Bill that was passed by this Dáil from coming into operation for almost two years. What have we got to expect from the Seanad as at present constituted? Do members of the Dáil seriously believe that members of the Seanad—thirty of whom were nominated by the Cumann na nGaedheal Party and, when this series of Bills goes through and the next election takes place, another set will have been elected by the Cumann na nGaedheal and Seanad combined, and only a few by Fianna Fáil—will do otherwise than continue to carry out the purposes for which the Seanad were set up, namely, to be British watchdogs in this country? The Minister for Local Government stated that he wondered why we were putting in any amendment to this Bill, why we had the audacity to assume that a crux might arise between the Dáil and Seanad. The very purpose of this Bill is to provide for a crux between the Dáil and Seanad. If there was no possibility of a crux arising between the Dáil and Seanad there would be no necessity for this Bill, no necessity for the other clauses in the Constitution dealing with the procedure when a dispute arises between the Dáil and Seanad over any legislation. If a Government formed by Fianna Fáil were in office there might be a crux between the Dáil and Seanad over Bills dealing with a thousand and one things; Bills for instance, dealing with Constitutional changes, dealing with the reorganisation of the Army on a basis that the country could afford, dealing with the reorganisation of the police on a basis which the country could afford, dealing with the reorganisation of the Civil Service on a basis that the country could afford, dealing with the reorganisation of the Oireachtas, the Dáil and Seanad, on a basis the country could afford, dealing with the reorganisation of the Judiciary and Law Courts on a basis the country could afford, dealing with the keeping of land annuities in this country to be spent for the benefit of the people in the Twenty-Six Counties, just as land annuities are being retained in the Six Counties and spent for the benefit of the people there, dealing with local government, with agricultural and industrial development, with international relations, and with currency.
If a Fianna Fáil Government were in office Bills dealing with all these matters would be introduced as soon as possible. Fianna Fáil might also attempt to carry into effect the reports of the different commissions that have reported in vain to the Cumann na nGaedheal Executive for the last five or six years. Fianna Fáil might put into effect the Report of the Evil Literature Commission, the Report of the Commission set up to deal with insurance, the Report of the Commission relating to Greater Dublin, the Report of the Commission set up to deal with and report as to what steps should be taken to develop the Gaeltacht so that people could live there and save the language, and they might also put into effect the Report of the Commission on Technical Education. When Fianna Fáil gets into office and endeavours to carry through its policy there will undoubtedly be a crux between the Dáil and Seanad because we have a fundamentally different outlook on all these questions from the present Executive Council and the Seanad, which has been set up with the connivance and help of the present Executive.
We wish to abolish the Seanad, and surely when we attempt to abolish it, the Seanad will object. That was one of the great arguments why this Bill should go through, that we had given no indication as to why we should worry about a dispute between the Dáil and Seanad. There will, of course, be a dispute, a crux, between the Dáil and Seanad whenever the Dáil tries to do what the Irish people want, and when it will not do what the Seanad and the British nominees in this country want. We want to have the constitutional changes which the people want to be carried through in a constitutional and orderly manner. We will have got very, very rapidly into the position, after a few more Constitution Bills will have been passed, that the written Constitution will have no force or effect whatever. It will be understood by the people as a whole and by Deputies that the only Constitution is what the majority of representatives here want to have passed. That is exactly the position we want to see here. We want to see affairs so arranged that the majority of representatives here can deliberate together and can decide on national policy without reference to any written Constitution or any Constitution imposed here by foreign bayonets.
The Ministers think that they can impose barriers upon future Executives. They are establishing a precedent which will be very useful. They are now acting as if the written Constitution had no binding force on them, that their will is law, that whenever they want to change the Constitution they can change it. We hope, when we take over the reins of Government from them, that we will change the Constitution as the people want it to be changed, but we will do it in a more manly and open fashion, and we will not say one thing in private and do another thing in public. We now know what was in the cry, "The will of the people must prevail." It meant that the will of the people must prevail so long as Cumann na nGaedheal were the people who were to prevail. President Cosgrave said to-day that the Seanad is composed of persons just as anxious to do good for the people as Fianna Fáil. He told us that we ought not to fear the Seanad, that the Seanad were good boys, and that there was no reason to be afraid of them. There is no reason for President Cosgrave to be afraid of them. He will always do what the Seanad want him to do. and, of course, they will be good boys to him.
We have asked Ministers why on earth they are introducing these Bills and putting them through. We have asked them to disclose what is really behind all this rushing through of these Bills, why it is that they must override Standing Orders and Parliamentary practice in order to get these Bills through. Surely to goodness if they have good reason to put them through, if there is any real desire amongst the people of the country to get the Constitution amended in this Bill, they ought to put the Bills through the ordinary Parliamentary procedure. What is the good of having a Fourth or Fifth Stage? What is the reason for having two stages if there is to be no lapse of time between stages in which Deputies can make a re-examination of the Bill after it has emerged from the previous stage?
