Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

The issue is easily dealt with. Of course the term of the Presidency should be five years. Is it possible that the convention could examine the Presidency more fundamentally? For example, one could ask whether we need a Presidency, which is a bauble, a luxury that is ill-afforded. The mechanism for the selection of a President is undemocratically rigged to suit the establishment political parties. Will the convention examine the issue, and if we are to retain the Presidency, discuss whether it should be opened up to any citizen to go forward and democratically put his or her name in front of the people and have a real democratic contest, as opposed to the rigged contest we have seen up to now?

Some of those issues are important but why is the constitutional convention not going to the heart of much more fundamental issues in society? Why is it not dealing with the massive inequality of wealth in society, for example, where a tiny elite controls such massive resources and the majority do not have access on an equal basis?

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