Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Cabinet has not discussed it yet. It is on the agenda and we intend to discuss it.

My view, which is not the view of Government because we have not discussed it at Cabinet yet, is that I have reservations about it on a number of levels. I referred to those reservations already in this Chamber. The first of them is that it would diminish the role of councillors and local authority members. I know many Members of this House will not want that to be the case. It would also reduce the number of seats that are elected by local authority members very considerably and diminish their role as a result. It would require everyone in the country to register to vote in Seanad elections. It is not even just everyone in the country but every Irish citizen in the world who wants to register to vote. People would have to choose which of the panels - the Agricultural Panel, the Administrative Panel, the Cultural and Educational Panel, the Industrial and Commercial Panel or the Labour Panel - they would like to have a vote on or whether they would like to vote for the University Members. I have reservations about that in that we may find large numbers of people not registering at all and not wanting to be part of this. Large numbers may register for one panel but not another and it would create a problem if 100,000 people registered for one panel but only 20,000 registered for another.

A further problem relates to the panels themselves, which, I understand, derive from a papal encyclical in the 1930s and which do not represent the 21st century. There is no panel dealing with science and technology, for example, but there is one which deals with administration. There is nothing in respect of sport. Those are my reservations and I have explained them to the House previously. The matter has not been discussed at Cabinet yet, so what I have outlined is not the formal view of the Government. It is open to any party that wishes to do so to put this legislation before the House for Second Stage debate and a vote. The latter is within the rights of any party that wants to make this happen.

Extending the franchise for presidential elections is something in which I strongly believe in and to which I am committed. I want us to hold the referendum in this regard in October. Our proposal is that all citizens, no matter where they may live in the world, will be entitled to register to vote for the next President. They will have to register to vote. It would be a postal ballot for those not living in this State. It would not be linked to having a passport because a passport is a travel document and there are many people who are Irish citizens who do not have passports or whose passports may be expired. As a result, it will be linked to citizenship rather than possessing a passport. While I appreciate the argument regarding no taxation without representation, I must point out that the Dáil sets taxes and passes legislation which applies to people who are resident here. The Presidency is different. The President does not set taxes and does not make laws. I would like to see a Presidency for the 21st first century that is different to that which currently obtains. I would like a Presidency that represents the Irish nation - not just the State - and that is elected by all citizens.

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