Sheila Terry (Fine Gael)

This is an important debate and I am delighted that so many Members want to contribute to it. I assume that it will run across a number of sitting days.

The Seanad comes in for a certain amount of criticism from members of the public in terms of its relevance but the process we are undergoing is worthwhile. We need to raise people's awareness of the work done by the Seanad. How best we can do this in terms of making our work relevant is what this debate is about. There are a number of good proposals contained in the report and I wish to refer to some of them.

One of the proposals in the report, to which Senator O'Toole referred yesterday, is that there should be more widespread consultation with interested groups. The Disability Bill is a good example to take in terms of considering how we can move forward. There was much consultation with the various advocacy groups in respect of the Bill's preparation. However, it was not shown to those groups before it was published. It would be interesting for Members to hear from those groups and obtain their opinions on the contents of the Bill. I would welcome a system being put in place to allow a Second Stage debate on the contents of a Bill and then meet those groups to hear their opinions on how best to amend or improve the legislation. This would ensure that we pass the best legislation possible through consultation with the groups working on the ground, which we represent and whose members want the legislation to be user friendly and deliver the proper service. This would make our work more relevant and worthwhile.

During the consultation process I said that I would like to see a Question Time in this House similar to the system in the Dáil to allow us to raise issues on a daily basis with the relevant Ministers. This would be very helpful to Senators.

To improve our profile it would be extremely helpful for this House to scrutinise draft EU legislation and EU legislation already implemented to determine how well it is working and whether Ireland is in compliance with all EU directives, etc. On many occasions the authorities in Europe have advised that we are not fully complying with such legislation. That duty would make our work very relevant. While the work at the moment is carried out in the committees, it could be done more fruitfully if such a structure were established here and provided time to prepare for and scrutinise the legislation.

We are increasingly influenced by and interlinked with our European partners and this House could deal more fully with European issues. Earlier this year we welcomed MEPs to address the House, which was very successful. Our MEPs should be statutorily obliged to come to the House at least on an annual basis to outline their work. This would give us an opportunity to put our views to them on how best we feel they could be working. We could question them and make other points that would be of value to the MEPs. This would also help to make us more relevant.

To increase the profile of Members of this House and make us more relevant to the public we should be allowed to scrutinise Departments on their performances. This has come to light with the publication of the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General in recent days, which highlighted issues such as the problems with speed cameras. I was amazed to hear the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform say on radio that he did not know about those problems. If we had the opportunity to monitor how well a Department was doing it would make us very relevant in terms of keeping an eye on what is happening in various Departments, State agencies and semi-State companies. I would like to see the senior management teams appear before us so that we could question them on the progress or otherwise of their Departments.

On the make up of the Seanad, I support the recommendation of the committee that we should have directly elected Senators. I believe it was proposed there should be 26 such Members — the number could be discussed more fully at a later date. We could be more relevant to the public if they were to elect some Senators, while still having local authority members and outgoing Deputies and Senators electing a large number of Senators. That must be retained. We have a very close link with the local authority members and now that Senators and Deputies can no longer be members of such authorities, retaining that link is vital.

I ask the Minister to consider how emigrants can be represented here. As he is probably aware, Senator Higgins has proposed to the Taoiseach that in the event of his vacating his Seanad seat, he could be replaced by an emigrant. Emigrants have expressed interest in being represented here. We have had a very good debate on our emigrants abroad. Many of them had to leave and went all over the world, particularly to the UK. They helped to build roads, bridges and railways. In their later years they find themselves in pretty awful conditions. From the debate we had here it is clear the majority of Senators have a great empathy with them and would like to improve their lot. Having a representative here to keep their views on the agenda would be worthwhile and would be recognised by the public.

As is the case with the Dáil, considerably more television coverage of proceedings in the House should be broadcast. When I travel to the US I can see the local council proceedings on television and the same is true of their legislature. This would make us more open and transparent to the public. While "Oireachtas Report" has a considerable viewing public, it is mainly watched by those involved in politics. However, its biggest problem is that it is broadcast so late at night. Considerably more people would watch it if it were broadcast earlier in the evening. Television coverage should be broadcast during our proceedings, which would allow the public to know what we are doing by hearing the debates and help them to make up their minds as to how we perform.