Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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6. To ask the Taoiseach the position regarding reform of Seanad Éireann; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35201/14]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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7. To ask the Taoiseach the position regarding the programme for Government commitment on Seanad abolition; if, since the referendum result, he or his Government have plans to reform the Seanad; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37627/14]

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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8. To ask the Taoiseach the position regarding reforming Seanad Éireann. [39821/14]

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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9. To ask the Taoiseach if his Government has formulated any plans for reform of Seanad Éireann. [39834/14]

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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10. To ask the Taoiseach the position regarding the programme for Government commitment on the abolition of Seanad Éireann. [41686/14]

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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11. To ask the Taoiseach if the Government has plans to reform Seanad Éireann; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41687/14]

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 6 to 11, inclusive, together.

The programme for Government commitment in relation to the Seanad was to hold a referendum on its abolition, and the Government did so. Following on the referendum, I attended the Seanad on 23 October last year to hear the views of Senators on how reform of the Seanad might proceed. I then met the leaders of the different parties and groupings in the Dáil and Seanad on 18 December last year to discuss how best to proceed with that reform.

During the meeting each person was given the opportunity to present his or her views and it was agreed that work on procedural reform could proceed quickly. All the parties and groupings in both Houses, including the Government through the Leader of the Seanad, could present their proposals in this regard to the Seanad Committee on Procedure and Privileges, CPP. The Government presented earlier this year a package of proposals on Seanad reform to the Leader of the Seanad for submission to the Seanad CPP. It is now a matter for that committee to consider these proposals, along with any other proposals it has received and to make its recommendations for reform.

During the course of the campaign on the Seanad referendum and in the years preceding it, a significant number of proposals and plans for Seanad reform were made by a variety of groups, including Seanad committees, political parties, academic bodies, professional and union groups and members of the public. It is important that these inputs are not overloaded and that we develop a means to progress suggestions where possible and appropriate. In order to progress the reform process, the Government will establish a working party to examine the submissions and proposals already made and to seek further submissions as may wish to be made.

The working party that I intend to appoint will look at the role of a reformed Seanad within the political process, the powers and functions of a reformed Seanad, the method of election and selection of members of a reformed Seanad and any other matter that the working party might sees as relevant, and report back to Government not later than the end of February 2015.

The people have voted for the retention of the Seanad. There is a wealth of information and reports about what might be done to improve, look at or make changes to the electoral system to the Seanad within the parameters of the Constitution. I will appoint that body very shortly to report back by the end of February.

As regards legislative reform, the Government, for its part, committed to bringing forward legislation to implement the 1979 amendment to Article 18 of the Constitution on the election of Members of Seanad Éireann by institutions of higher education in the State. The Government earlier this year published the general scheme of that Bill to achieve this. It should be noted that the amendment to the Constitution that enabled this to take place was passed by the people 35 years ago and this is the first Government to take steps to implement it. Following public consultation on the general scheme, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government expects to publish the Bill to extend the university franchise in the not-too-distant future.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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We are battling against time and I will take the two Deputies' questions together.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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In the spring of 2011, the Taoiseach made a firm commitment to the Irish people that he would undertake a democratic revolution and he was ably abetted by the then Tánaiste in that firm commitment. I put it to the Taoiseach that he has fundamentally broken that pledge the Irish people and in doing so, he has done enormous damage to the Irish body politic, and we are seeing a type of dramatic change in political attitudes in the country that arise from that. The Taoiseach promised a referendum to reform the Seanad. He stated, when he lost that referendum, that he accepted the outcome of it but the only proposal with which he has come forward in the interim is to extend the franchise for third level seats. Has he put a costing on that initiative?

Today the Taoiseach stated he would set up a working party and to some extent, I welcome that. However, he excluded reform of the Seanad from consideration of the Constitutional Convention. I congratulate the Taoiseach on the work of the Constitutional Convention. It did good work but it was prevented from looking at this matter. Will he give time for some element of public consultation on what sort of reform of the Seanad should take place?

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Since the citizens gave the Taoiseach a wallop in the Seanad referendum, there has been the debacle around the Seanad candidate, Mr. John McNulty, and the nomination of him to the board of IMMA which illustrates the Government's attitude to the Seanad, to the arts and to State boards. Today the Taoiseach stated that he would put forward a working party shortly to report back by February. That strikes me as an unworkable date. What does "very shortly" mean? He will ask those involved to have their report ready in less than three months.

The Taoiseach has not dealt with the Constitutional Convention report which called for citizens in the North to have a franchise in presidential elections and I would like to think that the diaspora would be represented in the Seanad as well. My party proposed - I put this forward to the Taoiseach in the past - that 50% of Seanad Members be women and that we ensure a representation of marginalised and minority groups, such as the Traveller community. Can we have some sense of whether the Government has considered any of these proposals my party has put to the Taoiseach and can he give us a firm commitment that this is a serious proposition to have a report back here by February?

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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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.