Removal of Senate will increase the lack of scrutiny

Watching the celebrations in Tahrir Square in Cairo as the army assisted in carrying out the will of people in removing a leader who threatened to turn a bastion of culture into a fundamentalist state, I have pangs of jealousy as we approach the centenary of 1916 and live in a despotic state.

Our leader is in the process of removing part of our national parliament citing cost savings; yet in reality his majority Government will, if successful in their bid to scrap the Senate, have the ability to pass legislation without scrutiny.

Citizens face reduced welfare, healthcare and education and are threatened if we don’t pay more and more indirect taxes from non-existent incomes, while the architects of our economic doom still live in their palatial homes and enjoy jet-set lifestyles.

The system of government being developed by Fine Gael and Labour is economic apartheid, where rich and poor are increasingly segregated with each passing day, under their reign. It’s time we took to the streets in a real way and abandoned the pseudo protests we are so fond of.

Thomas O’Connor

Crumlin

Dublin 12