Constitutional Referendum on the Number of Members of Dáil Éireann: Motion Seanad Éireann — 2026-03-25 ============================================================ Joe Flaherty (FF), Nominated by the Taoiseach I doubt it. The TDs might have been, but we would not. I listened this morning to Deputy Cathal Crowe discuss this motion with the eminent proposer of the motion. He said that back in the history of time, our parliament was based in Killaloe, County Clare. The Senator would get less mileage travelling down there. That might not be as meritorious for him. As I said, there is merit in this motion. The arbitrary rule of having a representative for every 20,000 or 30,000 people has worked well. Maybe it is not how it should be done and there might be a better way of doing it but it certainly works well. I do not think there is a TD or a Senator in the country who, when meeting somebody walking in the door, decides this person is an Irish national, an EU national, a Ukrainian or somebody coming from an IPAS centre. The fundamental principle of public representation is that anybody who walks through our door is entitled to the same representation, irrespective of whether they are Irish, an EU citizen, new Irish or are coming through the IPAS. It behoves us to give them the same representation, the same recognition and the same rights and representation as we would afford to our Irish brethren. I would be disappointed if I thought there was anybody either in this House or in the Lower House who decided how they represented people on the basis of whether those people could actually vote for them. An old story was told of Bertie Ahern that if somebody went to him, he would check the register and if they were not on the register, he would tell them to go away and come back when they were on the register. We do not have the luxury of being able to tell people to do that any more because people can be quite flippant and decide to go to another politician for help. I have always operated on the principle that if somebody reaches out to a public representative and asks for help, regardless of whether they can vote or even if they are in the constituency, we are honour bound to do so as representatives of this wonderful House. We have inherited the work and the efforts of the people of 1916 and the subsequent generations. I know we are launching a book tonight on the great Seán Lemass, the man who brought the Irish message right across Europe and was very much at the vanguard of the modern incarnation of the IDA and brought investment to Ireland. Those people were broad-minded and looked at Ireland not as a small island on the edge of Europe but as a large country, a proud and determined democracy and a country that is recognised as having sent many people right across the world. We have an onus and responsibility to look out for our peers, especially at a time of war or a time of distress. I take great pride and I recognise the wonderful opportunity that we in this House have been afforded to be public representatives. While I might have political differences with many people in both Houses, I still greatly admire anybody who goes to the effort of being a public representative. This is unquestionably the single greatest job and the single greatest opportunity anybody can have in this country. We should never treat it in any other way. It is a great honour when somebody comes to me and asks me to assist them with an issue with their house or an issue with a student grant. Those people, regardless of whether they are an Irish citizen or an EU citizen, are putting their faith and their belief in us as a constitutional country and as a democracy to do right by them. It is a wonderful place that we have arrived at. People continually compare us to America and yet we look at the extremes in America today. Ireland is just 100 years old and we are a bastion of all that is good about democracy and all that is good about a modern society. We can be very proud of that. There is great merit in discussing this proposal but as it stands at the minute, I do not see a better way to determine the number. I concede the requirement for one TD for every 20,000 to 30,000 people is arbitrary. If I thought it could guarantee me getting back into the Dáil, I would agree with whatever proposal they might come up with. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-03-25/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:46+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-03-25