Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Tom Kitt, to the hot seat for today and probably this week. In regard to the informal engagements to which he referred, will he outline the exact make-up of those engagements and exactly who is attending? Will he also explain why the Oireachtas reform section of the programme for Government amounts to a scant, short and even vague reference? It accounts for virtually six lines in an 86 page document.

One of the critical areas for reform is the ability of this House to respond to situations presenting or emergency circumstances that occur, sometimes on a week by week or day by day basis; there is no such facilitation in this House. The Ceann Comhairle is strapped by Standing Orders to disallow matters that Deputies endeavour to have addressed and they are not always, as he suggests in terms of Standing Order 32, matters of merely local relevance. The criterion for consideration is that they are matters of national importance. Does the Minister of State not agree that a great number of them are indeed matters that merit and warrant address with the respective Ministers here in a very speedy way which, because of the restrictions of the operation of the House, cannot currently be facilitated?

Is this one of the areas that the Minister is definitely looking at and where we can expect recommendations in the period ahead? What is the timeframe suggested to bring forward a set of proposals for reform of the Oireachtas and can the Minister of State confirm that it is not only the Dáil he is addressing but both Houses of the Oireachtas, the Seanad and the Dáil?

In respect to the Upper House, is it also within the brief of this informal engagement group to which the Minister of State referred, to address the critical need for reform of the electoral process to the Seanad, the Upper House? Does the Minister of State accept that the current method of election of Members to the Seanad is patently undemocratic, that it is confined to those who are already elected representatives at local authority level or within this Chamber and those who have third level degrees from a number of named academic institutions?

Is the Minister of State of one mind with this Deputy that real and fundamental reform of the Seanad is absolutely linked to reform of the electoral process to the Seanad Chamber and that this must be extended to universal suffrage so that all citizens have the opportunity to participate equally, as they do in terms of Dáil elections? Is the Minister of State also of the view that the introduction of such reform offers an opportunity to extend the universal suffrage to all citizens on the island of Ireland and the Irish diaspora, within a given or stated period of time of having left these shores — 20 years has been mentioned previously — to see these substantive changes introduced as part of an overall package to address the serious wants in both Houses of the Oireachtas? Go raibh maith agat.

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