Caít Keane (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----after the amendment to the Constitution, 21 years after the establishment of the University of Limerick and Dublin City University and decades after the establishment of other third level institutions, that no legislative effort has been made to provide for this. A consultation process is now open, which I welcome, and it will close on 11 April. I ask everybody to make submissions to it and, as the Minister said, he is here today. We have had many debates on this matter. The Minister has taken notes. Obviously, one cannot do everything in one day. I admire the Minister for what he is doing today. There is much more to be done but one cannot do everything in one day. A consultation process is open and the general scheme of the Bill has been referred to Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht, which will debate this further. People are invited to make submissions on how a university panel could be more inclusive in the future, and I welcome that.

One suggestion I would make is that we could replicate in legislation Article 33 of the Free State Constitution and establish a cross-party or non-party system for the representation of important interests and institutions in the country, but that is a matter for another day. It is reasonable to suggest that we have it within our collective power to make many changes. I admire the Leader of the House who has made some changes, including inviting people in to address this House. This House was established to represent different voices in the community and it is open to us to do that. We have already started to put that into practice. Legislation is not needed to do everything.

It has been suggested that the estimated eligible electorate for the new enlarged constituency for the Seanad will be 800,000. The electorate for the university seats in 2011 was 151,399 and the Minister has also given figures. The possible ways this will change the dynamics of the university system has been shouted down here because it will take more people to elect a candidate but many more people will have a vote. We can note the percentage of the people who have a vote in the university system and when it was established and that franchise will now be extended to include the Institutes of Technology. More than 73,000 in this year alone applied to the Central Applications Office, CAO, and all of those now will be included in the electorate. We have a highly educated workforce. Restricting the vote to the NUI electorate only recognised one educational system but now most of the educational systems or, as the Minister said, 81 colleges will be included. That is a huge step forward. It is estimated that 800,000 will be entitled to register under the planned reforms. This is a more reflective figure in regard to third level education in Ireland today. All third level institutions will be given the recognition they deserve. Students pay the same fees in all third level institutions. Students are educated to the highest level in all institutions, be it institutes of technology or universities. The system was elitist and discriminatory but this Bill will change that.

The Seanad was established to get people from a spectrum of backgrounds involved in our political system to reflect a variety of experiences and sectors and the institutes of technology reflect a varied variety of experiences.

These include all types of education and not solely what is known as academic education. I would support the further extension of the franchise, but we cannot do everything in one day. I am sure the Minister will be back after the consultation has concluded. In addition to the national qualifications authorities, other bodies may also grant awards and degrees. The existence of 81 different educational establishments represents a significant step forward in higher education.

In 2013, Professor John Coakley conducted a wide-ranging study on the system of Seanad election. He made reference to the 1979 constitutional amendment, which was passed by a huge majority. Citizens have been waiting 35 years for that decision to be implemented. The process of implementation is finally starting today with public consultation. In regard to the debate on the unrepresentative nature of university representation, Professor Coakley found significant differences between the two universities. In a paper on the topic, he stated:

The NUI electorate broadly reflects the distribution of the Irish population, though with a stronger Dublin bias (this accounts for 31 per cent of the electorate, as compared to 28 per cent of the overall population). In the earlier years, the Dublin share was rather higher. The proportion resident outside the state, 3 per cent, has been shrinking over time. The University of Dublin, perhaps not surprisingly, lives up to its name in having a much stronger Dublin orientation (47 per cent of the electorate). [...]

It is likely that getting qualified graduates to register for Seanad elections poses a considerable challenge, especially in the NUI, where the electorate has not kept pace with the growing pool of graduates. This no doubt reflects the university’s own diverse structure[.]

The Minister will have to ensure there are sufficient staff to address this challenge. All of us are familiar with alumni who do not bother to keep in touch with their former universities or to keep their addresses updated. All university and institute of technology graduates should ensure they have provided up-to-date information so that they can vote when the election is held. However, not everybody goes to universities or institutes of technology. Perhaps one day we will recognise other skills, such as mechanical skills, and all of the educational bodies. One educates the mind, the body, the soul and the hand. All spheres of education should be taken into consideration. The educational system should help to develop an all-inclusive society in which everybody has a vote. I realise that we are trying to introduce reform without holding another referendum, but perhaps we will find in the future that we have to go down that road.

I will not rehearse all of the recommendations contained in the 11 reports on Seanad reform. The Minister has taken them on board, however. This is the first step in reform but, after 35 years, it is a good step.