Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Tá cuid mhaith cainte ar shaoránaigh i láthair na huaire agus, más féidir liom, ba mhaith liom comhghairdeas a dhéanamh le saoránaithe na Gaillimhe atá tar éis scéal a fháil ar maidin go bhfuil Gaillimh roghnaithe mar Phríomchathair Eorpach an Chultúir 2020. Iarracht ollmhór a bhí i gceist agus táim cinnte gur oibrigh na réigiúin agus ceantair eile an-chrua. Tá a fhios agam go raibh iarracht ollmhór pobail ar bun leis an rud a fháil i nGaillimh. The citizens of Galway are elated today because their city has been awarded the European Capital of Culture 2020. A huge cross-community effort was put into the bid and I congratulate everybody involved. Winning is a wonderful achievement.

I commiserate with the other areas that competed because I know they put in a huge effort as well. Beidh lá eile ag an bPaorach, le cúnamh dé.

Sinn Féin opposes the Bill. Our main point of opposition relates to the method that will be used for selecting the citizens, namely, the electoral register. In our opinion, the latter is the wrong data source to use and the company that will be appointed is the wrong organisation to oversee the selection process. The difficulty with using the electoral register is that 5% of the adult population of the State is not included on it. This means that approximately 200,000 people are automatically excluded. Generally, those no on the register are likely to be young people, individuals on low incomes, people with literacy difficulties, Travellers and those who do not have citizenship or residency rights. All of them have a right to be involved in any constituent or citizens' assembly, irrespective of whether individual parties agree or disagree with such an assembly or the issues it will consider. It is a mistake to use a data source that excludes those people from the outset.

Tá Bille curtha síos ag mo chomhghleacaí, an Seanadóir Fintan Warfield, chun an vóta a thabhairt do shaoránaigh a bhfuil 16 slánaithe acu. Ba cheart, mar sin, dar linne, go gcuirfí san áireamh iad sin agus muid ag dul ag roghnú daoine don tionól seo. We believe it would be important. My colleague, Senator Warfield, will table a Bill calling for voting rights to be extended to people over 16 years of age. The latter are the citizens of the future. Whatever decisions are made by the assembly will have a huge impact on their lives. We believe the register that will be used must take them into consideration.

We do not think that using a private polling company is right either. A major factor in the success of such an assembly will be that the public has confidence in it. Private companies were not explicitly referred to in the Bill but it does not prohibit their use. Public confidence could be tightened by using the CSO, for example. If the CSO used its census data - few people question its legitimacy - then public confidence in the process could be nailed down from the start.

At a time when the Government is coming around to Sinn Féin's position to provide voting rights for Irish citizens in the Six Counties and the diaspora, it is disappointing that this legislation ignores them completely. It would not have taken much extra work or imagination to include them in this plan.

There is also the issue of those who are in direct provision or the asylum process. I know from my work on this issue that some people have lived in direct provision for up to 15 years. It is outrageous that someone can spend so long in this country yet not be deemed worthy of expressing his or her opinion on an issue of such natural importance. Is mar gheall ar sin agus ar na cúinsí atá luaite agam anseo go mbeimid ag cur i gcoinne an Bhille seo tráthnóna.