Dan Boyle (Green Party)

The Minister is of a mind that other universities and other degree graduates can be brought into this process in a newly enlarged university constituency.

My final point, before my colleague addresses the changing functions of the Seanad, concerns the Taoiseach's nominees, although I realise my difficulty in making this argument. The report referred to increasing the number of Taoiseach's nominees to 12. There is an argument that there should be a degree of nomination by the Taoiseach to provide a necessary Government presence in the Seanad at any given time. The number of nominees is a matter of debate. To use this as a mechanism to involve more people from Northern Ireland would also be of value.

Ultimately, if I were to invent a system for election to the Seanad, my personal preference would be to have a totally public election. However, I see the value in the Seanad reform report in that it outlines where consensus exists, which is where we can move from. If we can reignite that consensus, the changes proposed can be introduced in a very short time.