Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I liked the words used by the Minister of State when he described our contribution as being always "enlightening, interesting and informative," and I wrote them down. I thank him for his response and I also thank my colleagues here for their contributions.

In a personal sense, I have made 59 new friends since I joined the other Members of the Seanad three years ago. That is why the place has been endorsed by the public and that is why it is important that the Seanad goes forward in the way in which the Minister of State aspires for it. I am afraid the proposal of a single mega-constituency would allow the political parties to take over the university seats. As he said, having an alternative is absolutely vital. We need people who are not involved in political parties and we need representation of minorities. As he said, we need expertise, and I am afraid we would lose it if we had 870,000 voters in a mega-constituency. I thank him for the courtesy that he always shows us in the House and for his regular appearances here.

The Minister of State's speech as originally circulated, although I think it was corrected afterwards, stated: "The combined educational and cultural representation in the Seanad, when the current university Senators are included, would rise to 14," but it later states: "one sixth of the Seanad would be elected by institutions of higher education." That means the number would be ten and not 14. That is the kind of technical matter that we will be discussing as the debate advances.

I will now thank the speakers in the order in which they addressed us. Senator Keane stressed the importance of keeping this debate alive and mentioned our role in consultation and improving legislation. There is no yellow-pack university, but we have given all institutions of higher education a constituency in this legislation, which is important.

With regard to Senator Mooney's comments, in our constituencies it is important to have by-elections. The Government proposed that there be a list system and that the next person on the list be selected. I opposed that proposal in European elections as well. By-elections play an important part in the electoral process. One of the observations I sent to the Minister, to which he referred, was that there should be by-elections for the Seanad, rather than a system in which the next person on a list is chosen to fill vacancies. That is a fault with the European elections that should not be adopted in Oireachtas elections. It might also run into constitutional problems.

I thank all contributors for their views and I shall finish with a minute outstanding. I thank again, most sincerely, everybody in the House. I value this House hugely. Everything that I have proposed here, and in the Bill, is to ensure this House continues to expand and help Ministers and the Taoiseach in the governance of this country, for the reasons that I have mentioned. We have played a fantastic role since 1922 and since 1937. Long may it continue. I hope the independent university Senators are not lost, because I value them, just as the Minister does.