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

I support the amendment but that is not to say I support the idea that we need ten Dáil Deputies, let alone 14, for a citizen to be qualified to stand for the Presidency. I have been calling for the abolition of the Seanad for more decades than the Taoiseach is in the Dáil, which is a very long time, but I abstained on Second Stage of this Bill to make a protest with regard to continuing with this provision in the Constitution. I must protest that the proposal that 1,000 electors nominating a particular person would be sufficient to qualify him or her as a presidential candidate was ruled out of order. I do not understand the reasoning that was given in that regard because what one is talking about here is qualification to stand as a candidate. It is as much of a qualification to suggest 1,000 electors as it is to suggest 14 Members of the Dáil or, indeed, ten.

The Presidency, quite frankly, is an establishment institution. It is a decoration. It should be abolished because, in my view, the office of the Presidency is meaningless in reality. However, if it is there, it should be open to any citizen to stand for it and should not be confined to the political establishment, which is largely where candidates will come from and have come from in the past because of the qualifications that were deliberately set down in order to confine it to a very narrow range of political opinion in this State.

Fianna Fáil has made some criticisms tonight of the Government position. I take it from Deputy Kelleher it is calling for a change in the qualification criteria to stand for the Presidency.

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