Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent)

I welcome this process, which is refreshing. The topics selected are important, including getting the horrific gender bias out of our Constitution. I look forward to being able to debate it and vote on it in the Chamber. I particularly welcome the Taoiseach's openness to this potentially being a first step. He is also open to some of the issues that have been raised by Deputy Adams, Deputy Martin and others, including those within his own party, concerning radical reform. There are things we could do to shake the system up to serve the people better.

I have heard three things about the process that I like. The inclusion of Northern Ireland delegates is important. Deputy Adams has made some good points about making it even more inclusive, but it is good that there is at least some recognition there. I also like the statistical process being used to ensure that different communities and different parts of the country are represented. I also like the openness and transparency in matters such as the proposed live webcast. The Taoiseach's call to have more people involved will be important.

In the few minutes available I wish to address some issues with the process which I would like to see tackled and improved if not for this one, then certainly for the others. These are the make-up or membership of the convention, its funding and its powerlessness in real terms. The Taoiseach mentioned the principles of independence, innovation and influence. I appreciate that this is a genuine effort to do that but we could go further towards achieving those principles.

As regards the make-up of the convention, a mistake has been made in including politicians, although it might seem odd for a politician to say that. I appreciate that politicians are able to bring a view as to how the system works today that nobody else can bring, which is valuable. However, best international practice does not include elected representatives in constitutional conventions. Two of the best recognised speakers in the world on this matter are Archon Fung from the Harvard Kennedy School, under whom I had the privilege to study, and Ken Carty from the University of British Columbia in Canada. In their work in this field, they acknowledge that the presence of partisan influence can lead to distorted deliberations and outcomes. Professor Fung says that in deliberative democracy "powerful participants may seek to improperly and unreasonably exclude issues that threaten their interests from the scope of deliberation". In other words, one could have a bunch of politicians there who see suggested change as threatening their incumbency, funding and jobs. They may move - the academics have seen this happen in other places - to have those topics sidelined.

As regards funding the convention, I appreciate as well as anyone in this House that we are in an extremely cash-poor environment. However, when the Netherlands did this it spent €6 million on it, while British Columbia spent $6 million. We are putting in €300,000 which is one twentieth of the Dutch figure. My concern is that there will not be sufficient funding or time for people within the convention to absorb the kind of expert knowledge they will need to tackle the constitutional issues.

The third issue is the powerlessness of the convention. I am concerned that the Government will only take these things as recommendations. If one compares the Dutch and Canadian experiences, in British Columbia the people got to vote and the convention decided what there was going to be a referendum on. The Netherlands, however, used a process quite similar to the one proposed here. In the Netherlands most of the issues raised and agreed by the convention never made it through the government or parliament. It was seen as a failure largely for this reason.

Many issues need to be addressed, including single-seat constituencies and moving from 166 to 100 Deputies. This is substantial stuff to radically change a system that the people of Ireland do not feel is working for them. I welcome this as a first step. There are major opportunities to make the convention more effective and better meet the principles which the Taoiseach has set out for it.

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