Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

If one is an Irish citizen in Northern Ireland and one does not happen to have a degree from the National University of Ireland or Trinity College Dublin, one has no entitlement to vote. If Senator Barrett is positing the argument that this is of some great importance in terms of Irish citizens living in Northern Ireland, the great number of whom are disenfranchised from that process because they do not happen to hold a degree from either of those universities, there is an argument to be held there. I am saying to the Senator that if people are really serious about this issue, there is a broader debate which the Government has asked the Constitutional Convention to look at closely and we expect a report from it in due course.