David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I also give a ritual welcome to the idea of reforming the Seanad. However, during the referendum campaign the Government showed an extraordinary degree of cynicism and dishonesty. I do not believe the leopard changes its spots much. I have always called for the expansion of the electorate for the university seats, but we were told during the referendum campaign that none of us ever did. We need to look at the implications of expansion of the electorate. There are already approximately 200,000 voters in the combined university electorate. This will increase to 500,000. That is fine, but there must be an accurate register or the system will not work.

It will mean young candidates will have very little chance because high-profile candidates in a six-seater constituency will have a much greater chance of getting in. There will be a question of funding. Printing 500,000 leaflets is an onerous financial task for young people. It took me ten years and six elections to get in and I had an overdraft which I could hardly bear. We should be facilitating young people in getting into the Seanad. For example, all graduates of Trinity College Dublin have retained their @tcd.ie e-mail address. This is a cheap and easy way for candidates to communicate with their electorate.

We have been calling for the reform of the university seats for a long time. I have been in this House for 26 years and the only target of reform has been the university seats. We need real reform to include the other seats. The only democratic element, which has 200,000 voters, will increase to 500,000 voters while the political panels, in the control of the political parties, will have their vote base reduced from 1,000 to 500 because of the diminution this wonderfully democratic Government is inflicting on local authority membership. On the one hand, we are having this vast increase in the electorate for the universities and, on the other, a comparable decrease in the electorate of local authority members. That is not democracy. That is the kind of slyness and hypocrisy about which I spoke earlier.