Maria Byrne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister who I am glad is present for the debate. I also welcome the Bill and compliment Senator Michael McDowell and his team on drafting it. While we might not agree on every aspect of it, there are some positives but also issues that need to be looked at and teased out.To return to Senator Joan Freeman who spoke about democracy, I have been elected through four local authority elections. Certainly that is democracy at work. Having been elected through four local elections I consider I have a mandate from the electorate. While I may have been elected by councillors and fellow councillors, Deputies and Senators, the reduction to 13 is very small given that we have 900 representatives between councillors, Deputies and Senators around the country. I have regular contact from colleagues in the council but also from my electorate. Recently I opened an office in Limerick and a number of people have come to me with issues that I am delighted to bring to this Chamber. That shows democracy as it works. That the number of seats for councillors may be reduced to 11 is much too small and needs to be looked at. I welcome the fact that the intention is to introduce voting rights to all third level institutions. I have served on the boards of the University of Limerick and Limerick Institute of Technology. We also have Mary Immaculate College in Limerick. I speak from a local interest point of view and currently none of those people has a vote.

The Seanad has played a positive role over many years and many people consider it the watchdog. Bills which come through the Dáil are considered in the Seanad. That we have contact from people outside this Chamber and that we represent their views is positive. We went out to the public and it had its say and the Seanad is still here. I agree that some parts of the workings of the House have to be made more relevant. Certainly many positive issues are debated here and should receive support. We have been sitting for the past three or four weeks. During that time we had a debate on tourism. We have had the Minister for Health and the Minister with responsibility for roads come before the House and Members have raised relevant topics. It is important that line of communication remains, otherwise, what other avenue is available to us to convey our views to Ministers?

While I welcome the Bill there are areas that need to be looked at. I could not support every aspect of the Bill.