Marie Louise O'Donnell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

There is nothing wrong with that. The blowing of wind has a certain verb attached to it.

Senator Ruane made a very good speech on drugs. She knows exactly what she is talking about in respect of young people and drugs.

The greatest abuse of the Seanad is the guillotine. It is far more abusive, in fact, than lengthy arguments or arguments which go on and go nowhere. It is an absolute disgrace that we are going to guillotine the Judicial Appointments Bill. I thought we would not do that in the Seanad.

One of the reasons I thought this was a very good place to be was that we could argue, have a sense of discourse and a research and thought process, listen to each other, be involved in and elevate argument from the Lower House and be convinced by each other in a non-territorial way. That is what I thought we were supposed to be doing in here. I have learned an awful lot from young Senators and elders like me across the House and across territories. I thought that was what this House was supposed to be about. The guillotine flies in the face of that.

The Judicial Appointments Bill comes from an unclear place and an unclear and unclean foundation. Everybody sitting here knows that. They must accept this Bill or else. There was not consensus among the parties that they would have a judicial appointments Bill. It came from one space, namely, a person who said, "I want this Bill or else". That is not a clear place from which a Bill should begin. That is its first flaw. Everything that has come from that foundation has been flawed. The Government is sitting here pretending it is not. Many Senators across the House do not agree with the Bill and a majority dislike many aspects of it. We have started with a flaw, like the great Macbeth, and we are still there. We are now going to try to guillotine it and make the flaw even greater. We need to stand up to this.