I second my colleague Senator Crown's proposed amendment to the Order of Business.

Senator Crown has not spoken yet.

Senator Mullen has the gift of prophecy.

I apologise. I want to second the amendment my colleague is about to propose.

I wish to verify that I am proposing an amendment.

No amendment has been proposed yet, and one cannot second something that has not been proposed.

I hope the Cathaoirleach stopped the clock. I look forward to hearing another colleague second Senator Crown’s proposed amendment to the Order of Business in due course.

I propose that we amend the Order of Business to bring the Taoiseach to the House to discuss the long-overdue political reform of the Seanad.

Is the Senator proposing an amendment to the Order of Business?

Yes. I am proposing an amendment which Senator Crown will shortly second. If there is one thing to be learned from the McNulty affair, it is the contempt that the Taoiseach and the Government have for the Seanad, notwithstanding the decision of the people. To continue to treat the Seanad as a political pawn, as it has in this affair, blatantly disregards the clear message and consensus that came from the electorate, which was that the Seanad was to be retained as our second Chamber and its functions fully respected as well as developed.

Will the Deputy Leader organise a debate in due course about the forthcoming Second International Conference on Nutrition, which will take place in Rome from 19 November to 21 November? It may be a matter for the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, but it is also one for the Department of Health. Who will represent Ireland at this conference? Up to 167 million children under the age of five are chronically undernourished. Ireland, with its great agricultural tradition and the contribution of organisations such as Gorta and Self Help Africa, has particular points to make and a great role to play in addressing the problem of world hunger, particularly by promoting excellence and improvement in agriculture.

It would be appropriate that we would have a debate on that.

Finally, I remind colleagues of the invitation sent to them about Julia Holcomb's address today in LH2000 about her tragic story involving a late-term abortion.

Could the Senator clarify the amendment he has proposed to the Order of Business?

I propose that we amend the Order of Business and that the Taoiseach come to this House today to address the subject of the long-awaited, long-promised and much-reneged on promise of political reform.

I second Senator Mullen's very intelligent and perceptive amendment. I will speak in defence of seconding it. For people of my generation - those who thankfully grew up at a physical distance of 100 miles from but still very much politically in the shadow of the Northern Ireland conflict - those folks who espoused reconciliation and compromise are unsung heroes who were the true peacemakers. They were the people who were actually advocating peace without ever having advocated war in the first place. One of the leaders of that movement was the late Dr. Garret FitzGerald. For many people of my generation who were not politically involved but just looking at it from the outside, he was a person who embodied many of the best impulses we should see in Irish politics and somebody who tried to move past his own incredibly heavy familial Civil War burden to try to take a more all-encompassing view of what we needed to do to fix our country. Where others were preaching internecine warfare, he preached reconciliation. Where others were preaching one or other version of the sectarian head count they thought should determine the shape of the political structures on or in different parts of the island of Ireland, he tried to work out ways of getting compromises between those who saw those.

Here we are four leaders later. The occupant of the same position Dr. FitzGerald held is our Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny. I mean no offence to any of my colleagues in any other party because I think all of the parties have moved on enormously in the past several years but it is a subject of profound sadness to me to think that his party is locked in a head-and-neck poll with people led by those who were preaching a very different vision ten, 20, 30 and 40 years ago. The Taoiseach bears a very particular responsibility for the credibility of Irish constitutional politics and I must say that he has let it down over the past several weeks by his failure to deal with several critical issues relating to the political reform he promised. It still sticks completely in my craw that we have visit after visit after visit to this House by Ministers who when asked a direct question either do not answer or are economical with the truth. It is very hard for us to criticise others for dishonesty about their history when we cannot look our own Taoiseach in the eye and ask him to be honest about more recent history. For that reason and in the context of the failure to deliver Seanad reform and meaningful political reform, I second Senator Mullen's amendment.

The Senator has already seconded it. Before I call Senator MacSharry, I am sure Members of the House would like to join me in welcoming to the Visitors Gallery the Colombian ambassador to Ireland, H.E. Mr. Néstor Osorio. He is very welcome.