The House will be aware that the Seanad Bill has now passed Second Stage and is awaiting debate on Committee Stage. Obviously, it is a matter for the groups to determine when Committee Stage hearings should commence.

It occurs to me that perhaps we need a little more clarification from the Government, in particular, before we embark on that process. I am addressing my point to the Leader, as the spokesman of the Government in the House. As I understand it, a programme for Government was agreed which stipulated, among other things, that the report of the Manning committee would be implemented. The Taoiseach has come to the House and spoken about his commitment to this project. The Members of the other House are under the impression, as I understand it, that the Government is committed to this enterprise. Presumably, the parties that support the Government, including the Independent Alliance, Fine Gael and the other Independent Members, are committed to the forwarding of this proposal.

It seems to me, therefore, that there should be no doubt about the intentions of the Government in respect of this Bill. I was a little disturbed when I discovered recently that a Member had described this Bill as a Bill of Senators Michael McDowell, Gerard Craughwell, Victor Boyhan, Frances Black and John Dolan. That is because the Bill is supported by many other Members and it carried their signature.

Who was it? Name and shame the Member.

Can the Chair clarify the matter?

I am duty bound to remain silent.

The interesting point is that, with the exception of myself, all the people mentioned as being proposers of this Bill were elected to the House by county councillors.

They were all nominated.

The letter in which they were so categorised and loaded into the same group as myself was addressed to every county councillor in the country, as far as I can see. This raises the question of why it would be that anyone would so misrepresent the proposals of the Bill in such a way as to somehow excite opposition against them among their electorate. That raises a further question.

One should not presume anything.

God, Senator McDowell is raising a lot of questions today.

Which Member would be so inexperienced as to make a mistake of that kind?

A schoolboy error.

Why would a Member forget that many other Members have proposed this Bill? It comes down to this point.

Is the Government committed to what is in the programme for Government, the implementation of the Manning report on the reform of this House? Is the Leader having difficulty persuading some of his colleagues that they should support the Government on this issue-----

They do not.

Do we need to bring the Taoiseach in here again so that they can hear it from his own lips that he supports this Bill?

Not before Christmas.

I will not embarrass the individual who wrote this letter.

Do.

I would never do such a thing but should this House not at this point seek clarity from the Government as to where its commitment lies?

I look forward to Committee Stage of this Bill being brought forward early. The Leader should take this opportunity on the Order of Business to make it clear that the Government stands behind the programme for Government, that the Fine Gael Party is united in support of the Taoiseach on this measure and that letters of this kind really are not very helpful to the process.

He deserves it. Order in the House. I call Senator Conway-Walsh.