We need to fix our democratic deficit, but saving the Seanad saves nothing

WHEN you’re sitting on a bench overlooking Clew Bay, under the bluest sky and over the bluest water you’ve ever seen, it’s hard to imagine that there’s anything in the world that needs reform.

When you force yourself away from the view to do some research, you come to the conclusion pretty quickly that some things are just impossible to reform.

I’ve always had a soft spot for David Norris. So I was shocked when I saw his attack on Fine Gael’s Regina Doherty on the news, because it was utterly out of character for him. It was vulgar, crude, and sexist. I don’t know Regina Doherty at all, other than by seeing her on TV, and I had formed the view that she was one of a bright new generation of politicians. Norris accused her of engaging in a “regina monologue” and of talking through a part of her anatomy. There was a time he used to pride himself on (a) being a gentleman, and (b) having a sufficient vocabulary that he didn’t have to stoop to vulgar and offensive language in the course of argument.