Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As colleagues on this side of the House will confirm, Fianna Fáil is totally supportive, as is the Government side, of realistic Seanad reform. In fact, some of us managed to persuade the Leader who started off from a position where he wanted to abolish the House to take a policy decision that he would seek to have it reformed. We have had an internal debate within Fianna Fáil on the issue. There is nothing inherently wrong with what Senators Katherine Zappone and Feargal Quinn are attempting to do through the Bill and I commend them for using their Private Members' time to highlight the issue because we all accept that there is a need for reform.

I do not have the Minister of State's response in front of me, but I am intrigued by it. Please correct me if I am wrong, but when giving a reason for his opposition, he referred to section 2 and the proposal made in it for Irish passport holders to have the right to vote. He said this would be an extra cost. I am intrigued by this. Like many on all sides of the House, I support the recommendation of the Constitutional Convention that Irish people abroad be able to vote in presidential elections, as a first step in widening the franchise for the Diaspora. Part of the recommendation of the convention on the criteria to be used to establish who should be entitled to vote was that one be a passport holder. I do not see any other criterion to prove identity than ownership of an Irish passport. I am aware that the Government is going to introduce legislation in this regard and that it will act on the recommendations of the Constitutional Convention. However, will the Minister of State clarify why he believes there would be an extra cost involved? If there would be an extra cost in this regard, it is inferred there would be an extra cost in regard to any other proposal to extend the franchise through using the criterion that a person be an Irish passport holder. I hope I have made myself clear to the Minister of State and will be grateful if he clarifies his remarks and the reference he made to Irish passport holders in the context of the Bill.