Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

The Government is keen to have the diaspora involved. I understand that the embassies and the community groups abroad shall be briefed with as much information as possible to allow them to do so. A website will be provided to accept submissions and to give as much information as possible to people across the world.

We have tried to comply with what we presented the people with in the programme for Government. As Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, I am committed to working with my colleagues to implement some change in the political system. As Members will know, the political funding Bill and legislation dealing with the issue of gender quotas and the female gender participation in politics are before the Houses. The Electoral (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill will limit and substantially reduce corporate donations. We are also reducing the number of Deputies. The Taoiseach has said quite openly that he is not including issues related to the Seanad in the convention. People will disagree, and have disagreed, with him in the House over that. I respect their views but I cannot come here and change it because the Taoiseach and the Government took that decision. Later this year an electoral (amendment) referendum spending Bill will be introduced and it will make spending at referendum time more transparent.

Who knows what will emerge from the deliberations at the constitutional convention? Who knows what issues it will throw up? If there are any then the Government will consider them. The Electoral (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill is a great opportunity. For the first time, as it was done in the Netherlands and Canada, members of the public from across the country and every region will have an opportunity to participate in the people's constitutional convention and in the people's Constitution. We hope that recommendations will emerge that, as we head towards 2016, we will be proud of in terms of a new republic that we will all participate in. We hope that all of us will aspire to make the necessary changes needed to modernise our Constitution.

Senator Michael Mullins and many other Senators made points about the electoral register. I agree, wholeheartedly, that the manner in which the electoral register is drawn up at the moment is less than satisfactory. Certain local authorities have a haphazard approach to drawing up an accurate electoral register. I am examining proposals to see how we can make it a lot more certain. Citizens have got the fright of their lives at polling stations when they discovered that they had been knocked off the electoral register through no fault of their own. From the point of view of participation in the electoral process this is unacceptable.