Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

I know I can always rely on a good friend to ensure our interests are looked after. I welcome the motion which is timely and I congratulate Senator Norris, particularly in light of the opening paragraph in which he refers to the repeated promises of the Government to provide "openness, transparency, accountability and democracy". My colleague, Senator Wilson, has already addressed these issues with regard to all of the Government's proposals to deconstruct democratic institutions in the country.

I want to refer specifically to a number of the items included by Senator Norris in the generality of his motion, such as the 1998 third progress report of the Oireachtas All-Party Committee on the Constitution. There have been at least three if not four all-party constitutional committees since 1937. There was one in the 1960s and two in the 1990s, including the O'Keeffe committee and the most recent committee which was chaired by the late Brian Lenihan. This begs the question as to why we are having a debate on the form of the constitutional convention being established by the Government. I would not be against the notion that the Constitution needs to be put under urgent review. However, when one looks at the meat and drink of it, there might be drink but there is no meat. Senator Norris is right in this regard and he is correct to bring forward these proposals which the Government might consider, irrespective of the timeframe involved.

I wish to refer to two issues which exercised the minds of the all-party committee and the Minister of State, Deputy O'Dowd, referred to the fact he was a member of one of the committees. I should have had the good manners to welcome him to the House. I had the pleasure and honour of serving with him in the House and he has done well since, as I have often said, and well done to him.

With regard to nominations for presidential elections, there was a suggestion that 20,000 citizens would be able to sign a nomination paper. I am not sure whether the all-party committee recommended any change but it was moving towards accepting this recommendation and perhaps it might open it up. I believe it also recommended that ten Members of the Oireachtas could propose a nominee. I hope the constitutional convention will deal with this matter. I ask the Minister of State to correct me if I am wrong, but I believe there is flexibility built into the constitutional convention whereby after it has dealt with the specific issues referred to, it can take on other issues. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy O'Sullivan, to the House and I thank Deputy O'Dowd for his contribution. There is merit to considering loosening up the rather restrictive nature of the nomination process. Senator Gilroy was the most recent speaker to make the point that restrictive as it may seem theoretically in practice it works rather well, in that the local authorities, showing they have some independence from the party system in this regard, nominated Dana Rosemary Scallon in the two most recent presidential elections.

Many congratulatory remarks have been made about the present incumbent in Áras an Uachtaráin and I endorse them. I have had the pleasure of knowing and working with President Higgins on a variety of committees when he was a Member of the Houses, particularly the committee dealing with foreign affairs. I always found him to be engaging and stimulating in his conversation and wonderful company. However, I should put on the record that Senator Norris because of his particular travails and Sean Gallagher can probably feel somewhat aggrieved at the manner in which the election campaign went. It is said that timing is everything in politics and President Higgins is now in office having been elected by the people, but it would be remiss of me if I did not say when the history of the election campaign comes to be written it will be seen to have had particular dimensions which impacted on Senator Norris and Sean Gallagher. This is not in any way to deflect from the dignity of the office of the President or the incumbent whom I wish well.

Another issue dealt with by the all-party committee was the question of an honours system. I remember when President Higgins was the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht we debated the National Cultural Institutions Bill in the late 1990s and discussed an honours system. He was not in favour of it, being a good republican socialist. However, it is interesting that in all of the debates that have taken place, including drafts of the original 1937 Constitution and the subsequent debate in the Dáil during which the then Taoiseach, Eamon de Valera, did not demur from the notion there should be an honours system which would be inaugurated and executed by the President. During the Dáil debate the reference to an honours system was deleted, but on the basis the door would not be closed entirely. However, it was never revisited. We should have an honours system and it should be a resurrection of the old Order of St. Patrick-----