Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will make some comment and observations from the Department. In response to Senator O'Donnell's comments, I think the Seanad is great and has a lot to offer. I totally agree with her about coming through education. I barely knew what local government was about when I was in school, never mind what the Seanad or Dáil were about. All of us are in the process when we become politicians, whether in local government or as Senators, Deputies or Ministers. We become absorbed in the process and what it is all about, and we know every little bit about it, or we think we do, but the members of Joe Public carry on with their lives and are busy doing all they have to do with work, families and sports, so they do not focus in on the detail of what we do. Our responsibility is to get the detail right, make ourselves more relevant and change the process. A lot of good work goes on here. I have had a lot of opportunity to address this House and work with it on various proposals over the last couple of years in my other brief, both on science and on the skills strategy. I value the input of this House. It greatly improved all those policies. We need to see how we can increase that offering and increase the work that Senators do here and the added value they bring to legislation and policy. I am conscious that this Bill is mainly about the process and composition of the Seanad, how to get here and who has a say on who gets here. It is not really about the powers and functions, which Senator Ó Céidigh mentioned. That is another discussion we have to have. Today's debate will focus on the overall principles of this House, but this Bill is about the process of electoral franchise, composition and who can vote.I am conscious of that, too. There are many issues that need to be discussed, and not just in terms of the functions. I do agree, however, that that discussion has to happen quite soon.

The Government believes in such reform. As Senator McDowell said, the Taoiseach has endorsed the Manning report and is pursuing its implementation. It does not mean that everything in the report is perfect. Nor is everything perfect in this Bill. We are, however, endorsing the process to move this forward and deliver that action. In his opening comments Senator McDowell spoke about inaction and I totally agree with him. We have had many discussions over the years, even before my time, about what reforms will or should happen here. It is time to get down to basics now and start implementing some of that change, as well as bringing forward some reforms.

I have come here to listen to the debate but also with a view to taking action to move this matter on. I will use some of my time not just to deal with the principles but also to highlight areas on which need to decide. We may need to change some aspects on Committee Stage. Senators might bear in mind that these issues will need to be teased out in the coming weeks and months. This work will not be done in a spirit of finding fault with the legislation but to highlight some issues that need to be teased out further and addressed. I have come here in a spirit of action and Members will understand that my drive in life is to bring in changes where necessary. Hopefully we can work on that together and tease through some of the many issues that need to be discussed and addressed.

I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak on the Seanad Bill 2016. I want to compliment the work undertaken on the Manning report. I am conscious that some of the people proposing this Bill made a major contribution to the Manning report. I recognise that fact, and that is why the Government is prepared to work with this Bill and will certainly not oppose it. I recognise that some changes might be required, but we will engage in the process and bring it on to the next stage.

The stated purpose of the Bill is to implement the reforms proposed in the report of the working group on Seanad reform, otherwise known as the Manning report. The initiation of this Bill provides a welcome opportunity to deepen our consideration of the electoral reforms proposed. I look forward to hearing the views of Senators on this. To clarify, the Bill does not deal with the process or functions of the Seanad, just reform of the electoral process. We need to bear that in mind as we get down to the basics.

The Seanad Bill 2016 is a significant piece of legislation not least because, by introducing direct elections for a majority of Seanad seats, it proposes a radical departure from the arrangements that have been in place for the election of Members of this House. The effect of the proposals for repealing the Seanad Electoral (University Members) Act 1937 and substantially overhauling parts of the Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act 1947 will be to provide Ireland with a second directly elected Chamber of Parliament with a substantially wider electorate than that in place for Dáil Éireann.