Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)

When the Labour Party first mooted this notion of a constitutional convention, what was envisaged was more expansive than the proposal before the House tonight. Sinn Féin has constructively engaged in the convention process over the past number of months. We have met with the Taoiseach and we submitted detailed proposals of our own. It might interest Deputy Keaveney to know that collective bargaining rights were one of the proposals we put forward as an issue for discussion by the convention.

The remit of the convention as set out in the motion is too narrow. For it to be genuinely a reforming or even a transformative tool, it should have the broadest possible scope. Sinn Féin welcomes the inclusion of political representation from the Six Counties but we are disappointed that the Government has decided against ensuring a full representation of Irish society within the citizen block. Those under 18 years of age will be excluded, despite the fact that we will debate the possible lowering of the voting age, as will the diaspora and citizens from the Six Counties. Indeed, there is no guarantee that Ireland's newest citizens or citizens with disabilities will be represented. We may well have a bizarre situation where same-sex marriage or marriage equality will be debated by a convention potentially made up entirely of heterosexuals. That is a design flaw in the proposed approach.

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