Pat Moylan (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Fahey, and his officials to the House and also take the opportunity to congratulate him on his promotion. There have been some excellent contributions from Members on this issue. I compliment those Members of the sub-committee who listened and read in detail the many submissions made by numerous bodies on Seanad reform.

Time spent discussing Seanad reform is worthwhile. However, how the Seanad has worked up to now must be taken into account before a large number of changes are made. The old saying comes to mind of why fix something when it is not broken. While times change, I agree with the principles of the nominating and electing bodies of the Seanad, particularly with the election of 43 Members by public representatives. It is important as every public representative, particularly every local authority member, represents a number of voters. Each one expresses his or her own views when electing Members to Seanad Éireann. When Éamon de Valera established the Seanad, he assumed that each public representative represented approximately 1,000 people. Electing Members with interests in different spheres to the various vocational panels ensures a broad view of society.

The number of Members must be expanded — by how many is for others to decide. Traditionally, three Members are elected from the National University of Ireland and the University of Dublin. However, with the numerous changes in the educational system that have occurred, the universities deserve extra representation. With the changes between North and South, representatives from Northern Ireland should also be included in Seanad membership. This can be done by increasing the Taoiseach's 11 nominations, allowing for three representatives from Northern Ireland.

From my experience as a Senator, another area for change is in Dáil and Seanad sittings and their overlapping with the committee system. Reforms for streamlining Seanad Éireann must take this into account. Up to half the number of Members can be tied up in Oireachtas committees, preventing them from making a proper contribution to the Seanad. One proposal that should be examined is having the Houses sit for three weeks out four, with the fourth week given over to committee sittings. This would make for a better committee system and, particularly, use of Seanad time.

Those allowed to address the House should also be reviewed. Over the past 12 months a number of MEPs have addressed the Seanad. This step in the right direction should be expanded upon to allow Senators the opportunity to meet and question MEPs on EU legislation.

Sometimes the House sits for two days in one week and three days in another, depending on the pressure of legislation coming from Government. If Members of the European Parliament or other such people addressed the House occasionally, we could move towards a four-day sitting week. This could happen if we examined a change in the committee system and the proposal that the Seanad sit for three weeks out of four.

The Seanad is an ideal Chamber for hearing the views of the party leaders from Northern Ireland. We should give them that opportunity; this may not require major reform. If the opportunity were afforded to the leaders of the main parties in Northern Ireland to address this Chamber we would gain a better view of their thinking and they would get a better view of the thinking of the Members of this House. Senators from the northern part of our country have made a valuable contribution to the Seanad. However, they were nominated by the Taoiseach of the day. If successive taoisigh had not made those appointments, we would not have had the opportunity of listening to their views.

I was appointed to the Seanad by the Taoiseach on this occasion but I was elected to the previous Seanad, having been nominated by one of the nominating bodies. I have a strong view on the manner of nominating candidates to the Seanad. Some nominating bodies are very active and made excellent contributions to the review while others did not think it worth their while to do so. Irrespective of whether a candidate is nominated by the Oireachtas or by a nominating body, the election should be held on a first-past-the-post basis. Seats should not be reserved for Oireachtas nominees or for the nominees of outside bodies. Candidates go before public representatives for election and they decide. It should not make a difference whether a candidate is nominated to a panel by Members of the Oireachtas or by a nominating body.

Public representatives are strongly of the view that some of the large town councils should be included in the election process. Some of the larger town councils deal with budgets which are on a par with some of the smaller county councils. This proposal should also be examined.

The Leader of the Seanad should attend Cabinet meetings. Every day on the Order of Business the Leader is asked pertinent and important questions. The Leader should have the opportunity to attend Cabinet meetings so as to be able to reply to Senators who put questions on the Order of Business.

The Cathaoirleach should be automatically re-appointed to a new Seanad as the Ceann Comhairle is re-appointed to the Dáil. The Cathaoirleach must hold an independent position and he or she should be automatically re-elected.

I commend the people who spent considerable time last summer listening to the submissions made by so many bodies and individuals. I listened to many of the contributions, particularly those made by party leaders, who made excellent contributions. Seanad Éireann may not require major changes but we must continually review it and consider the need for change. We should expand our electorate to ensure that the interests of other organisations and individuals are represented in Seanad Éireann.

I thank you, a Leas-Chathaoirligh, and I thank the Ministers of State and their officials for coming to the House. There have been reports on Seanad reform in the past and nothing has come of them. The Leader, Senator O'Rourke, and the committee have put considerable effort into the production of this document. I hope this report will not gather dust but will lead to reform and improvement and that the proposals of Members on Seanad reform will be accepted. The final say will be with the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, the Taoiseach and the Government. However, I hope the report will be examined quickly and decisions taken within a specified time limit. This matter should not drag on longer than six or 12 months. Reforms should be in position before the next election.