Jimmy Harte (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Exactly. The political will was there to put the question to the people in a referendum but the people were short-changed at that time. The university graduates who assumed at the time that they would have a vote in future Seanad elections were disenfranchised. It baffles me why Governments after 1979 refused to implement that legislation. I think it was just accepted that it was not going to happen, which was a misuse of the referendum by the Government of the day, which might have been a coalition Government and Senator Barrett could possibly clarify that. I have no problem with the referendum taking place.