On behalf of the Labour Party group, I wish to be associated with the sympathy extended to the family of the late John Carty, former Senator and Member of the other House.

I compliment Senator Katherine Zappone on last night's debate on Seanad reform which was prompted by the motion tabled by the Senator and her colleagues. It was helpful for all of us to hear from the Minister of State, Deputy Paul Kehoe, of the plan for progress on Seanad reform. While there was a vote, clearly there was a united view in the House on the need for reform and for swift progress on bringing forward reform proposals. It is helpful that we now have a clearer sense of how progress will be made, in the first instance, through the publication of the heads of the university franchise Bill, which will extend the franchise for university seats to all graduates of third level institutions in the State, and, second, through proposals to be put to the Seanad Committee on Procedure and Privileges. Those proposals on internal procedure and operational reform should come from all of us to the Committee on Procedure and Privileges. It is also important that all of us feed into the process of putting forward proposals for further legislative reform through the task force that the Minister of State announced would be set up.

I ask the Leader to schedule a series of debates, with a suitable gap between each, on the progress of the task force when it has been established. I am aware that at the meeting with the Taoiseach in December there was mention of the leaders of the groupings in both Houses. It might be easier if we moved first with leaders of the groupings in this House and if we were to set up a sub-committee of the task force for ourselves to put forward proposals for reform through legislation. In the Labour Party group we have already developed our proposals for legislative reform which we have put to the Labour Party Parliamentary Party. We need to ensure we are not dragging our heels and that we are doing all we can within this House, particularly as leaders of the groupings, to try to make progress on the strategy of reform that we all agreed on last night.

I support Senator Colm Burke who called for a debate on a dementia strategy. We saw some very troubling figures this week on projections for dementia in the State. It would be good to have a debate on how the Department of Health and the HSE are planning for that eventuality.

This weekend at the Constitutional Convention we will debate the issue of Dáil reform which had a very narrow win over Seanad reform. My colleague, Senator Aideen Hayden, pointed out during the debate on Senator Katherine Zappone's motion last night that Seanad reform was an issue that many Constitutional Convention members wished to see debated. Unfortunately, there will not be time to debate it. Some of the comments and suggestions brought forward last night may be raised again this weekend.

I join in the tributes to former Senator John Carty and the condolences to his relatives. I also sympathise with Deputy Michael McGrath on the passing this week of his brother in Cork.

As my group leader is in hospital, he was not present yesterday during the debate to which Senator Ivana Bacik has referred. The Minister of State, Deputy Paul Kehoe, spoke exactly as a representative of the Dáil, where six of seven Deputies tried to abolish this House. We have much work to do on him and the Taoiseach who refused to debate the issue before the referendum. Within the House, it is remarkable that the Senators opposite who voted to abolish the House in October are now reformers. It is rather like people who are in favour of capital punishment masquerading as counsellors and social workers.

The Senator does not know how we voted.

No.

The voting record shows it.

No, not to abolish the House.

That is what the Members opposite did. How can they interpret a mandate they never got? The position they advocated was rejected, particularly in the Dublin area and overwhelmingly in all middle-class and working-class constituencies. The Senators opposite ought to reflect on this. It was an overwhelming rejection of the way the Dáil operates. Against us were Fine Gael, the Labour Party, People Before Profit, the United Left Alliance and, regrettably, Sinn Féin. All of them were rejected in the referendum.

It would seem from what was coming forward from the Minister of State yesterday that the fault lies in the two university constituencies. I contend the five university Senators saved this House from being abolished. What we say about checks, balances, accountability and representing minority groups demonstrates what the Seanad was set up for. That is what we got the mandate for. I am interested in reform but if the university seats are abolished and taken over by the political parties, this House will become a Chamber of Fianna Fáil reserves against Fine Gael reserves, which is certainly not what people voted for. The Independent university Senators comprise a valuable part of this House and that should have been recognised in the Government's contribution. I exempt the Leader from any criticism but believe the Seanad committee ought to be more balanced in its treatment of what exactly happened on 5 October.

Is the Senator seeking a debate on the issue?

I echo the calls for debate. We must establish why the political parties, Government and opinion polls were so wrong. People wanted the Seanad's unique contribution to governance to be retained and not to have it dominated, as heretofore, by the political parties.