Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will return to it in one second. I am discussing the Constitution, which is about to be amended by this Bill.

Articles 2 and 3 relate to the special relationship between people on this island and in this House and people of Irish heritage overseas. Rather than deciding that the House should be transformed to accommodate those citizens’ right to vote in this Parliament, we are removing that opportunity. The establishment, the Government and the economic council will never give citizens living outside the State the right to vote in a Dáil election. The only place where they can be given their voice is in the Seanad.

Not only are we dismantling the 75 elements of the Constitution that refer to the Seanad, we are also failing to fulfill the most important parts of the Constitution, Articles 2 and 3, as regards citizens in the North and overseas.

The Minister of State has had a long affinity with the great Kerryman, Daniel O’Connell. He well knows that Daniel O’Connell was lambasted for his achievement of Catholic emancipation, in that he did not achieve the vote for everyone. People’s voting rights were qualified. His entire life’s work was not achieved, but neither was Home Rule achieved by others, including John Redmond, to whom the Leader referred.

When one dismantles something, it does not return easily. It took 118 years to get the old Irish Parliament back into Ireland and for us to have our own Parliament again. We are wasting an opportunity to reform a political process that clearly does not work, as the Minister of State is well aware. Our scrutiny of EU legislation and directives is minimal and derisory. When people wondered whether officials were examining EU directives, a former Taoiseach replied that he was unsure of how much time departmental officials spent reading them. These are the facts. Neither we nor the committees are scrutinising directives properly. Deputies and Senators do not have support staff of their own to ensure that legislation is being handled correctly.

Scrutinising legislation should be the function of this House. EU directives outnumber Acts of the Oireachtas 3:1, yet the number of amendments being made by the Dáil or the Seanad to those directives is zero. Amendments are not allowed, as there is no process to provide for them. Ministers sign directives into law without referring them to the Parliament for scrutiny. This is an affront to the democratic process, as the Minister of State is aware.

I thank the Cathaoirleach for his indulgence. Will the Minister of State consider what Daniel O’Connell would have done in this situation? He would not have allowed the Seanad to be abolished until the Dáil was reformed.