Katherine Zappone (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The correct way to do so is to put this extensive, detailed work before the people and to invite them to engage with it, to consult, to deliberate about it and only then move forward with proposals for reform. Is that not what the Government has done with the recent referendum on children's rights? Is that not what the Government is doing with regard to a number of prime policy areas?

When it comes to one of the most critical issues of all, the overall governance of the State, I am left with the following question. Would my colleagues, especially the Fine Gael and Labour Party Senators, please ask the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste why this undue haste? There has been no consultation with the people, including the current members of the Seanad. The Government has flatly refused, with absolutely no rationale, to put the issue into the Constitutional Convention. As we are all aware, not one of the many reports published on the role of the Seanad have called for its abolition. The reports have all called for its reform.

The Government wants to hold a referendum to abolish the Seanad without plans for a genuine and radical reform of the Dáil. The Dáil is a fusion of the Executive and the Legislature with the practices of the Whip system and the guillotine. The Government says that we will have a radically reformed committee system that will ensure that proper checks and balances happen without a Seanad. Can the people expect that enhanced committees can do the job? Committees are constituted by elected representatives from local constituencies. Can the people expect that, in this context, Deputies will be capable of shedding their political views, party affiliations and electoral concerns for the purpose of making the right law for all of the people?

Senator Crown's Bill puts the issue of Seanad reform to the House and that is a good thing. It incorporates the democratic principle of one person, one vote for the seats that can be chosen within the limitations of the Constitution which is also a good thing. There is no adequate rationale for the current party-political control of Seanad candidacy and electoral process for the 43 panel seats.

The Bill also simplifies the process of becoming a candidate for a panel on foot of a petition signed by 1,000 people who attest to the person's suitability to run for a particular panel. Senator Crown has stated that his rationale for the simplification of the process is to open up candidacy to anyone. It is critical to open up candidacy but it should not be done at the expense of expertise or the potential for greater inclusiveness in representation.

In the Bill the bar for the determination of the candidate's requisite knowledge of relevance to the particular panel is set very low, too low. It considerably reduces the potential for the Seanad to be peopled by experts within the sectors or constituencies of the panels. The measure would reduce the potential for a distinctive legislative scrutiny provided by Senators. There is no stated rationale contained in the Bill, or in any research that underpinned the Bill, to abolish the role of nominating bodies. We should change how candidates are nominated to stand for the panels by initiating a dramatic expansion of the nominating bodies. If a Bill were to modernise the criteria whereby an organisation could become a nominating body it would open up Seanad Éireann to civil society. A couple of weeks ago I hosted, along with some of my Independent colleagues, a public meeting for civil society and arts organisations which might be interested in becoming nominating bodies. Representatives of more than 60 organisations showed up and they demonstrated significant enthusiasm for the possibility that this provided them to influence the political process. The potential involvement of these organisations could allow non-mainstream, minority and marginalised voices to become part of Seanad Éireann.

I must raise another question about the risk in Senator John Crown's scheme that non-resident Irish passport holders could swamp the voters list in all constituencies. While it might be an appropriate policy objective to entitle non-resident Irish citizens a vote, is the Senator casting the net too wide?

I raise two more issues to raise. First, has Senator John Crown missed an opportunity, already signalled by Senator Cáit Keane, to include gender quotas in legislation to reform the Seanad? We are exploring how this could be done, thereby incorporating a mechanism that would promote inclusive representation.

Second, Senator John Crown's effort to legislate for the 1979 constitutional amendment to extend the electorate for the university seats does not

appear to be fair, nor would it reduce the charge of elitism. Why not have one six seat constituency in which all graduates of third level colleges could vote?