Caít Keane (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

One gains an awful lot from being a politician. I admire the Ombudsman, the Clerk of the Seanad, the Clerk of the Dáil and the clerks of everything else. People are often busy and have no time to consider people like retired people who have many life experiences. Whatever their background, be they judge, juror, politician or whatever, they should be considered and that is all to play for.

There has been an awful lot of reform. The three speakers that I mentioned stuck to the debate. I shall not outline the political reform achieved by the Government. I have a list to draw from but I shall not insult this debate by going off topic. Instead, I shall stick to topic and say we should and must ensure we set up the electoral commission as speedily as we can but do it right. New Zealand set up its commission over four years and in two parts. Perhaps Ireland could do the same. If we establish part 1 and then part 2 we would then have to decide what issues to prioritise in each section. Perhaps we could achieve all this a little faster than four years. As the Minister said, he is a student of political science and therefore knows the importance of an electoral commission. He is going to work on it but he has said he wants to get it right and to get it done.

Senator Terry Brennan mentioned the Australian system. In that country, as well as taking people off the register, they are fined for not voting. Such an element would lead to great discussion in this country. The provision would wake people up and it is one issue to be looked at. Perhaps it would be too harsh on people. There are many reasons that people do not vote. One would probably spend as much money on investigating the reasons people did not turn out to vote as on anything else.

I look forward to the debate. I am delighted we had this debate today because it allows one to get a sense of where people are coming from. It is the initial example of us working together and in partnership to ensure we get the best for all people on the road and that applies to all of the different bodies. It is extraordinarily important, as a Member mentioned, that we get the work on the road and do it as speedily as possible. We cannot do the work just like that. As I mentioned, the work took four years in one country and, therefore, we must adopt a reasonable approach to the timeline. That is why the amendment tabled by Senator Mac Conghail is pushing it.