Shane Ross (Independent)

There may be a compromise, namely, that all will agree the one thing that really must be changed will be the university seats and consequently we will become the target for all the political parties. I do not apologise for believing - as I think everybody on these benches believes - that the university seats need to be reformed. It is grossly unfair that some graduates of universities have votes while others do not. That is absolutely indefensible and we agree that a change to that system should be made, and made quickly. However, we do not feel it should be done on its own. It should be done because it is right and should be done in any case but there are worse aspects of this House than the faults in our seats. Senator Norris put it very well when he pointed out, as he has done time after time, that we are elected by more than 50,000 people and the NUI Senators are elected by more than 100,000 people. That is a pretty large number of people and is a big mandate to win even if it is, as people accuse it of being, an elitist or specialised mandate. Of course it is.

However, concerning those other people who are elected in this House, if we need to be reformed - which we do - they need to be reformed in a much more crucial way. There are 43 Senators elected by the panel system which is a bit of a farce in the first place because it does not really elect people for vocational reasons. It elects people who can look after county councillors very well and that is the end product. The point about that aspect of the Seanad is that insiders elect insiders. Those 43 people are elected------