Paul Bradford (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. I appreciate his hands are effectively tied in respect of the legislation before us. The date is set for the European elections and we are not going to do a complete U-turn at this stage in terms of how our Members will be elected on this occasion. I hope, however, that the Minister will take on board the points raised by colleagues today, particularly Senators Colm Burke and Sean Barrett. It is my hope that in five years time, regardless of the identity of the players on the stage - almost certainly none of us - we will have a different method of electing MEPs.

A year or so ago, I attended a Garret FitzGerald memorial lecture at which Brendan Halligan, a former Member of the Oireachtas and of the European Parliament, delivered a contribution that struck me as very profound. He observed that in the so-called conservative Ireland of the 1970s, Liam Cosgrave's coalition Government, in establishing the provision for the first directly elected representatives to the European Parliament, came to the conclusion that our existing multi-seat proportional representation system, while admirable in its operation when it came to electing Members to Dáil Éireann, was not suitable for electing Members to the European Parliament. The view of that Government and its advisers in 1973 was that an Irish parliamentary team of 14 or 15 on a European stage of 400 or 500 Members would not be able to play a substantial and constructive role unless it was a substantial and constructive team. With all due respect to the people standing in the forthcoming elections and those who were previously elected, the view of the then Government was that the quality of candidates seeking to represent this country as part of a small team on a large stage would be higher under a different electoral system. That Government was succeeded by Jack Lynch's Administration, which opted not to implement the recommendations of its predecessor.

After the forthcoming elections, we will have a team of 11 in a Parliament of almost 800 Members. In a forum where substantial decisions are being made, we must send forward the best people. I appreciate that we are facing a done deal in regard to 2014, but the reality is that the electoral system for European elections is probably not fit for purpose. Senator Burke has proposed 11 single-seat constituencies. People might have a difficulty with this on the grounds of the proportionality argument. The smaller parties are of the view - wrongly, in my view - that they would struggle to win seats under such an arrangement. Consideration should be given to some type of semi-list system, perhaps comprising a national list for the election of five or six MEPs together with five or six single-seat constituencies. If a party can obtain 7% or 10% of the national vote, it should be entitled to some representation in the European Parliament. I hope that when it comes to the 2019 elections, whoever is debating the issue in this and the other House, consideration will be given to a different electoral system. We must ask ourselves whether the people of this State are best represented by the current system. I am not convinced the answer is "Yes".

Several Senators referred to a disconnect between citizens and the European Parliament. We must be honest with ourselves in this regard. For the majority of people who will go to the polls in May, their primary concerns will be the elections to their local authority. That is where most of the interest will be. We will achieve a turnout of 55% or 60% simply because people want to vote in the local elections. Senator Burke presented me with a very interesting statistic some weeks ago, that in the 2004 elections, more than 30,000 people who voted in the local elections did not bother filling out the European election ballot paper. As a scholar of politics, the Minister will recall that in 1984, when the European elections were held on their own, the turnout was in the order of 35% or 40%. Although it is disappointing to acknowledge, the reality is that there is no great public interest in European elections. It is up to us to seek to turn that around.

People are going to vote in the local elections and we must try to ensure that they also engage fully with the process relating to the elections to the European Parliament. The 30,000 to 40,000 people who did not even bother to complete the ballot papers they received when the previous European elections were held should be encouraged to complete them on this occasion.

I hope that in the years to come we will exhibit bravery in the context of European Parliament elections. I am not suggesting that we should use them as a form of experiment but rather as a way of discovering whether a different electoral system might serve the country better. Our 11 players on the European Parliament stage - they will also be obliged to operate on the wider international stage - will have to be of premier league status. I am not sure that the current constituencies, which are made up not just of provinces but of those plus additional areas, offer the best medium for producing representatives of that calibre. Like Senator Noone, I wish all the candidates well. They are facing into a daunting and expensive task and I hope those who are successful will serve the country well in the European Parliament.