Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

A person might get the nomination, get out and meet whoever, but he or she will not get elected. It is that simple.

I see the role of this House as assessing legislation and not representing local constituency issues. I do not see how there can be a constituency. There is no funding for a constituency and no suggestion that one is in any way representing any constituency at a local level. As Senator Crown said, we hear Members speaking about people in their constituency but what constituency are they talking about? It has been made clear that the constituency is the constituency of Ireland. That reads through the report and it is something on which I commend the working group.

I am very disappointed at the small number of people who have turned up for this debate. Perhaps it is saving Dr. Manning and Mr. O'Toole a lot of time but I do not think either they or their group would resent giving the time to hear the views of people who had the future of this House at the core of their concerns.

Everyone has referred to broadening the electorate but it raises huge problems. The notion of some form of a regional electorate, similar to the European elections, appealed to me when I heard it. It was not something I had considered. I was concerned for those who would not be, if one wants, in cyberspace or familiar with it and who wanted to appeal to an electorate across the globe, be they holders of Irish citizenship or whatever. How does one communicate with and get to those people? How does one get one's message across? Senator Norris made the point that if a person declares he or she wishes to have a vote in a Seanad election and if 15,000 pieces of information are coming at that person the situation becomes next to impossible. This issue needs to be teased out a little further and I would like to see more clarity on it.

The working group was not allowed to consider the issue of altering the Constitution, which is a pity because the days of the Taoiseach's 11 nominees should be long gone. Let us be honest about it. At least one Taoiseach nominated a person to the Seanad when he failed to be elected in a Dáil and then a Seanad election. He was appointed as a Taoiseach's nominee. What does that say about respect for democracy? It was outrageous and should not have been allowed.

There are real opportunities available, as can be seen from the report. There is an opportunity to populate the vocational panels with experts in their respective fields. I turn again to Senators Crown and Quinn who are such experts. They knew where they are coming from and they are non-party political. I see some of the party Members are laughing and that is fine too. In fairness, the Seanad was hijacked after the 1937 constitutional amendment. The party political system sat down and looked at it and asked how it could maximise its seats. The system was locked down and everyone else was kept out.

I turn again to the issue of legislation. Implementation of the recommendations in the report would lead to a Seanad very different to the current one. It would mean legislation would be scrutinised by people from all walks of life - or at least there would be the possibility of that - and these people would be here for a short time only. Perhaps the notion of returning term after term is something that would change. I thank Dr. Manning and Mr. O'Toole for their patience today.