Caít Keane (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It was in the general scheme of the Bill. One of the recommendations was that by-elections in the Seanad would be dealt with in the same way as in the European Parliament, with the vacancies filled from a list system. I would not support that as much as I support ensuring that it goes to the councillors on the ground.

I was very impressed by a proposal from Future Matters, a group of young people set up to examine Seanad reform. It is an independent campaign of young people of various party affiliations and none who are committed to the ongoing reform of the Seanad. These young people put forward a proposal regarding councillors. Councillors represent and work for the people in the communities. Future Matters went a step forward in its proposal and I believe it is worth examining. It is that the councillors would call community meetings of all of the interested parties in all electoral areas, have the candidates for election to the Seanad appear before the meeting and have a question-and-answer session, after which the councillors would vote for the candidates as recommended by general participative democracy. It would widen the franchise, but the vote would still be done by the councillors.

This could be done without legislative change. We spend our time travelling around the country but perhaps we could meet in general halls and have a general discussion in a type of town hall meeting in every regional electoral area. We are in the process of establishing an independent electoral commission, so we could examine this proposal.