Joanna Tuffy (Labour)

I move:

That Seanad Éireann will establish a petitions committee and initiate procedures for civil engagement with the Seanad through a right of individuals, community groups and organisations to petition the Seanad and make a request to the Seanad to take a view or initiate or amend legislation in relation to matters of public interest or concern.

The motion sets out clearly what I would like the Seanad to do. I thank my own group and the Leader of the House, Senator O'Rourke, for the opportunity to elaborate on my proposal.

I will give some background on the concept of the right to petition. It is a right of persons or groups of persons either to request their legislature to do something or to make a complaint. That right is available to the German people whose law states that every person shall have the right, individually or jointly with others, to address written requests or complaints to competent authorities and to the legislature. The German Bundestag has set up a petitions committee, requests to which are primarily taken to mean suggestions regarding legislation, including enactment, amendment or repeal of a law, and complaints are primarily directed against the acts or omissions of administrative authorities.

The right to petition is a very old right. I have done some research on articles about the history of the right to petition and have identified that it goes back to the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215 by King John. That document set out rights of subjects vis-À-vis their king, but it included a petition of right, which is similar to petitioning a king regarding grievances. The idea behind the right to petition was to allow people make complaints and petitions regarding grievances. That type of concept is still in place; we only have to look to the example of the European Parliament. It also developed into a much more substantial right, which is the type of right I would have in mind for the Seanad, whereby individuals or groups of individuals could call on the legislature to do something. That is the way the idea developed in individual American states and it is still to the fore in some of them.

In that type of right to petition, members of the public would have an instigating role. They could come up with ideas for legislation and make requests. Individuals or groups could identify a gap in a particular law and seek appropriate change. They could also call for a debate on a particular issue. Under this process members of the public could have a major influence on legislation and on their legislators. Subject to checks and balances, they could instruct their representatives. It would involve a dialogue between the public and Parliament. It is a very old and radical idea. Some parliaments have had such a process in the past, others have rolled back on the idea while others have taken it up and developed it very well.

This issue was raised in the Seanad in 1925 in a debate about the presentation of petitions. A question of procedure arose and the Earl of Mayo—