Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In respect of the democratic revolution, revolutions roll on for a while. We have made some serious changes, in local government in the amalgamation of town and city councils, the removal of the town councils and the changes of boundaries for the local government under independent commissions, and in the Dáil, such as the right of Deputies to raise Topical Issues at a much more appropriate time, the drafting of Private Members' Bills to be discussed on Fridays and longer sitting hours, and all the changes made in terms of corporate donations and the removal of perks from Ministers, etc. There is also the legislation we referred to this morning at Leaders' Questions in respect of the protection of whistleblowers, which is an important issue. I am not sure that Sinn Féin made any proposal in respect of the protection of whistleblowers, but this is a legislative proposal to defend, protect and respect them for what they do. I welcome that the question of appointments to all State boards will be completely independent with assessment of credentials, qualifications and competencies by the Public Appointments Service so that on stateboard.ieall Ministers and Departments will publish the boards under their responsibility and the persons who serve on those boards and when vacancies arise, they will appear on stateboard.ie also. Members of the public or interested persons who want to apply for any of those positions, either remunerated or non-remunerated, will apply through that public system and will have their qualifications, experience, etc., vetted by the Public Appointments Service, which will send to the relevant Minister a list of those it deems to be competent to serve on the board concerned.

On the working group on the Seanad, I intend to take former persons who no longer have a vested interest in the Seanad but who served there, to look at the body of information and reports, many of which overlap and are contradictory, on what we might do about the electoral system within the confines of the current constitutional perimeters. That body of work is already known. There have been many reports over the years. I am advised that it should be possible to do this by the end of February. If there is an issue that they wish to look at outside of that, that will be a matter for themselves.

We have not discussed the question of the opportunity for diaspora to be considered for voting in respect of the presidential elections. A paper is being prepared on that in the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government and has been for some time. I expect that when it comes back here the discussion on the Dáil reform, which is part of one of the reports of the Constitutional Convention, and that matter can be discussed in the Chamber.

The Government appointed the first Minister of State with responsibility for the diaspora, Deputy Deenihan, and he is also examining the issue. I do not expect a decision to be made in time for the referenda we will hold next year, as many outstanding matters in that regard remain to be considered. However, the matter will be debated fully once the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government presents its paper to us.

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