David Cullinane (Sinn Fein)

I hope the Leader of the House will correct this. I welcome the fact he has been positive, courteous and constructive in dealing with us as a group. I hope the CPP will take on board some of the proposals we have made.

In the context of this motion, we must ask ourselves a very obvious question, namely, what we believe is the purpose and future of this House That must be the starting point. We must ask what this House can be. Can it work as a check on and balance to the Dáil? Can it be a House where we can have genuine participation from groups outside this Chamber? I believe we can.

We should not be under any illusions that if we do not change and live up to the rhetoric that has been expressed by so many Senators in this Chamber, then, as Senator Norris said at our first sitting, we could become extinct. I am reminded of a phrase by a politician, "radical or redundant". If we do not become radical, we too, like the person who coined phrase, will become redundant. We must ensure that is not the case.

In my maiden speech in the House, I spoke of my view that there is a place in this State for a second Chamber. I would certainly argue for a reformed Seanad. I believe there is an opportunity for all Senators across all the parties to work together and to put together a set of proposals in order that we could at least go to the people and say we want to reform this House and make it relevant and democratic. When we talk about the Independent Senators who have been appointed, and I acknowledge the diversity in the Independent group, I make the point that no one should be appointed to an office where the people involved have an opportunity to be legislators. Everyone should be elected. One of the things we need to do if the House is to have any future and have a real connection with the people is to ensure Senators are democratically elected, which is very important.

I welcome the proposal from the Leader to resurrect the petitions committee as we must find some structure whereby we can invite groups to the House. This would be a very fair way of doing that. When people are invited to a House such as this, they tend to be academics. While I have nothing against academics, we need to ensure we hear the voices of the people who are experiencing real problems, those who are living the recession and, for example, those in the education sphere who know what effect the impact of education cuts on children, or those who work in the health service who understand the effect cuts to that service are having on citizens, or people from disadvantaged and working class communities. We must find some way to deal with these issues. The petitions committee would be an opportunity to do so and to ensure their voices are heard and that the voice of every group across society is heard, including the marginalised.

Recently, we had a discussion on immigrants. We need to ensure immigrants and the new Irish who enrich our society have a voice and an opportunity to contribute. I believe strongly in a multicultural society. We have seen over recent years that immigrants to Ireland have enriched the country and that it is a better place because of them. We must find some way of ensuring they have a voice. Young people are also important. We have the youngest Oireachtas Member, Kathryn Reilly, in this Chamber. Some 100,000 young people have left our shores because they see no hope, leadership, energy or interest in young people. We must find space for these young people.

One of the most critical issues is reform of the electoral system. All parties and politicians must be involved in this. Far too many people in Ireland do not vote, many are not even on the register and many are disenfranchised. We must simplify our system to ensure as many people as possible vote. I see no reason we must have an election on one day only. Elections could take place over two or three days. There is much we can do, but there is no point in coming up with proposals and engaging in debate and the rhetoric of reform if we do not deliver. Senator Mary White pointed out the number of reports that have been published on Seanad reform and the fact that none of them has been implemented. It is a question of being radical or redundant. I choose the radical, not for the sake of it but to make the House more relevant, democratic and more connected to the citizens we seek to serve. I thank the Independent group for tabling this motion.