Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It would be challenging to introduce and manage. Should someone who has not lived in this country for perhaps 40 years have a say in the make-up of our national Parliament? There are certainly practical issues that would arise in any significant extension of the voter franchise and these should be considered before we take any steps to allow overseas voting.

When one examines who is eligible to vote under this Bill, the estimated Seanad electorate would increase to some 5.3 million people from an original 120,000. I can be corrected if I am wrong about that. This would naturally dilute the role that the local authority members play in deciding the membership of Seanad Éireann - they would be reduced to 13 seats. Presently, 43 seats in the Seanad are elected by members of local authorities throughout the country together with the incoming Deputies and outgoing Senators. This electorate represents a direct and significant link between local communities and the Oireachtas. This is an important connection between local democracy and the national Parliament.

This proposed Seanad electoral commission will replace the existing Seanad returning office, which, as my colleague pointed out, has very few staff. Will it be able to handle the projected 5.3 million voters? Where are the financial estimates on the proposed Seanad electoral commission and the burden it would place on the taxpayer?

As I see it, there are some other snags as well. Candidates would have to apply for one of the five vocational panels and even at that, it could be very lob sided. One might have a huge number on one panel and not many on another. Obviously, it will not be evenly spread because candidates will have to apply and opt for a particular panel, and that will be as a result of regulations with the consent of the Taoiseach. There is a pre-Seanad electoral commission and then there is the Seanad one. The Senator can correct me if I am wrong about that also when he is winding up. There will be a different returning officer for each vocational constituency and also one or more returning officers for the institutions of higher education. I understand it will be one constituency as a result of the referendum that took place in 1979, a decision which no Government has put into effect.

In applying for inclusion on the electoral register, under the Bill a person may express a preference for the constituency in respect of which he or she plans to cast his or her vote. As I say, one could have many people opting for one or two panels and maybe not so many for the others. I am not sure about the balance between them.

I understand the desire to extend the franchise to Irish citizenship, and there is also the question of allowing more people to apply for a valid Irish passport - there will be some fun with this. In any event, there will be a ballot paper in electronic form for printing and a unique identifier for each individual, and the ballot papers will have a unique QR code printed on them. One could have fraud and all sorts involved here because it will be communicated through the post which will not be registered, although that is probably not too important.

It imposes a huge responsibility on the Taoiseach of the day in deciding on this electoral commission. There will be an interim electoral commission and then there will be another one established, presumably when it is necessary. As Senator Paddy Burke said, there will be a significant financial imposition in that regard. We may have to suffer that, if it is the right thing to do when the time comes, but we will have some interesting times teasing this out on Committee Stage.