Seanad debates

Wednesday, 12 November 2014

Seanad Bill 2013: Committee Stage

 

5:00 pm

Photo of Paul CoghlanPaul Coghlan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Yes and they all need to be taken into account. Sadly, as we have heard from the Minister of State, the Bill is fatally flawed. Section 2, for example, refer to a relevant amnesty, the consulates and so on. Would this not require another referendum? What would happen to an Irish citizen resident in an area where we did not have an embassy or a consulate? Would that person be disenfranchised under the Bill? There is no provision to deal with that issue.

I do not want to get into the issues of election expenses, having an electoral commission, a gender sub-panel and a judicial assessor and the provisions in respect of local authorities which, as the Minister of State points out, conflict with what was passed in the most recent local government Bill. For the reasons outlined and others that could be included, we should start again. With respect, we should not be starting from this position, although I respect the work put into the Bill.

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