Dominic Hannigan (Labour)

I welcome the Minister of State and compliment the Fine Gael Party, Senator Cummins in particular, on bringing forward this legislation which my party is happy to support. I am sure the Senator will not mind me referring to it as largely a piece of housekeeping, which is not to disrespect the Bill which I believe to be straightforward and uncontroversial. That said, I must agree with the point made by the Minister of State, Deputy Finneran, that it would not be desirable to make piecemeal changes to the Seanad electoral code at this time. Piecemeal changes are not necessary, although I query why we have waited so long for any sort of electoral reform in the Seanad, a point to which I will return.

The Minister of State, in his opposition to the Bill, referred to changes when he stated: "The automatic inclusion of another councillors' body as a nominating body would not sit well with the current imperative towards retrenchment and rationalisation". He also referred to the dedicated Cabinet committee which is examining local authorities and stated:

[I]t would not be appropriate to speculate on the likely specific contents of the White Paper. It will address relevant issues in regard to local government powers, functions and structures.

If ever there was a warning about what may be coming down the line for our local authorities, it is included in the Minister of State's speech.

My reading of what he is saying is that we cannot extend voting rights to these people because we do not know whether they will be there in six months or a year. The Minister of State will forgive me if I have picked that up wrong, but that is clearly what I am taking-----