Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

Senator Mansergh and others referred to the system. Ireland is alone, with the exception of the United Kingdom, in the adoption of a particular electoral system. We have stuck rigidly to the proportional representation single transferable vote system. The Government must review the system of election in Ireland. I will go some part of the road with Senator Mansergh in that I am not convinced that single seat constituencies would operate well in this country. He is right that the Opposition would be howling because it tends to favour majority parties. However, in any discussions that I have had in Fianna Fáil on this issue, party friends and colleagues shy away because they are wary of taking a gamble on running with a single seat system.

I am in favour of a list system, specifically for the European elections. With all the activity surrounding the choice of candidates in my party for whatever this new constituency will be, there is a partial justification for political parties and none having the right to identify suitable individuals to represent Ireland in the European Parliament, rather than relying on them to come through the party system. A list system, operated on the percentage vote each party gets, would free up the decision-making process within political groupings as to who they should choose. It is not an unusual process. Non-politicians are selected to represent Ireland in the Commission. Mr. David Byrne and Mr. Peter Sutherland were not politicians when they were appointed. They were politically attuned to and active within their respective parties, but they were not elected representatives when they took on those important jobs. They have done and, in the case of Mr. Byrne do, excellent work on behalf of their brief and country. There is a mechanism in the Bill that permits the Government to review the election system for the European elections. A door has been left ajar, notwithstanding the ring-fencing of the particular national electoral system. Any future review, therefore, should accommodate the list system.

I ask the Minister of State whether he believes the list system would work more effectively in producing good quality representatives for the European Parliament. This is in no way casting a reflection on those who have represented Ireland in Europe. However, a system based on a party percentage vote that allowed parties to decide a list of candidates suitable for Europe would bring greater flexibility to the selection process. The candidates would not necessarily have to be part of the electoral system but could be taken from commerce, sport or some other area. Rather than parties having to trawl for people to go through the process, putting them through the vagaries of a selection convention to allow delegates to decide, people approached on the list basis would be more inclined to accept the nomination. This is not being anti-democratic because it works effectively in Europe.

I know that there is no precedence of Governments turning down recommendations of independent commissions. However, I will be back in the Chamber in a few months arguing against the way the commission butchered County Leitrim in the boundary revision. My final plea to the Minister of State is that, even at this late stage, serious consideration be given to restoring the traditional provincial titles to the European Parliament constituencies.