Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this new and radical legislation brought forward by Deputy Catherine Murphy and the Independent group, the Thirty-First Amendment of the Constitution (The President) Bill 2011. This is also a major opportunity to do something radical, sensible and creative in the process of the election of our President. This Bill is about a new inclusive democracy but it is also about a new Ireland, with fresh thinking. It is about our future, while always respecting our past, and we must ensure that everybody is included in the democratic process.

The Bill is also about our young people and if the major political parties in this House are honest and true to their word about creating a new Republic, they will support our legislation. There has been enough huffing and puffing about change and reform. There has been enough talk about inclusive politics. Now is the chance to change, and I urge all Deputies to support our Bill.

In the last election our people demanded reform and change. This Bill is now part of that debate. It sets out the agenda for the next presidential election and the future of this great country. We all have to be part of that process, and this Bill is the engine room for change in the election of our President. It does not have all the solutions, and I welcome the different views expressed in the debate, but it is a huge step in the right direction, particularly in dealing with the issue of active citizenship.

We must remind ourselves that democracy lies in the hands of our people, not in any political elite. That is the reason this Bill is inclusive and democratic. The main principles of the Bill were supported by all the major political parties in the past so let us get on with the job and quit the waffle.

There is no reason we cannot broaden the debate and put the views and the rights of people in the Six Counties, and also the rights of our emigrants, on this agenda. We should look at the situation in the North, as many people feel excluded from the democratic process on the island. I completely support that position. I noticed recently that 37,000 applications for passports were made to our own Passport Office from the North of Ireland in 2010. There is a huge interest from many people in the North of Ireland to participate in the elections. Mary McAleese was from the North but many people could not vote for her.

In line with the Good Friday Agreement and with the vision of inclusive politics, we should look strongly at this issue. I read a letter in The Irish Times during the week where a number of high profile northerners demanded the same equality of voting rights as the rest of us on the island. They included Fr. Des Wilson and Peter Canavan. Let us be creative, open and democratic. The Minister of State's brother, Niall O'Dowd, also supports that strong view.

There was recently a great meeting in Dublin Castle of many of our emigrants who came here to help us come up with new ideas for the economy and job creation. I supported that because the principle of it was very good. Many of us have relations who live abroad and they always want to assist their homeland. These people would also love to have an opportunity to vote for the President of their country, even though they might live in America, Australia or France. Other European countries have facilitated their citizens who are working and living abroad. I ask the Minister of State to back the right of our emigrants to vote. There would have to be some sort of threshold for this, but anybody who has left this country over the last ten years and has paid their taxes here for many years should have the right to vote in our presidential and other elections. It would broaden the debate and makes things very inclusive. I am always fascinated to the likes of the US and French embassies during elections in those countries, when queues of people gather outside to vote. Some people in this House are afraid of that. It could be developed further and I would like to see a broader debate on this issue, particularly in respect of the presidency. The French have a parliamentary representative for their emigrants, and one such representative had lived in Ireland for 20 or 30 years. There is great potential for emigrants to get involved with this issue.

I was unhappy about certain aspects of the last presidential campaign. I was not impressed with the standard and the tone of the election process. I do not mind people answering hard questions but I thought at times that the campaign was very nasty, personal and dirty. It was very disrespectful to some of the candidates. Some of the media did not operate in a very genuine democratic way, and some of the coverage was a disaster. I also thought some of the coverage was very unprofessional, with people in the media pushing their own political agendas and so on. That is not acceptable. Some of the current affairs programmes were fair and balanced, but many of them were very unprofessional. There is no need to be nasty and dirty in politics. Let us have a debate about the office but let us not personalise it.

Many young people to whom I spoke were thinking about getting involved in politics but that campaign frightened the life out of many of them. Those of us who encourage people to get involved tell them to begin at the next local elections but the presidential election definitely put people off. Having said that, if we cannot take the heat we should not be in the kitchen.

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