Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Seanad Independent group for using their Private Members' time for this crucial Bill. It is the first Bill that I and many others in the House put their names to as Senators. I reiterate my strong support for its proposed reforms.

Seanad Éireann has no mandate to continue in its current form. Every Senator sitting in the House following its retention by the Irish people in 2013 has a national mandate to campaign for significant change. This Bill is the final product of decades of reports, consultations and debate on what a reformed Seanad should look like. I am content that as many of the criticisms levelled at the Seanad that it is possible to change within the current constitutional framework are addressed in it.

This is a good and comprehensive Bill and I am proud to support it. I am sure we will all agree that a significant number of people feel they are not well represented in Irish politics. People see the infighting that has resulted from partisan and Government-versus-Opposition politics. They believe that the issues they care about and that affect them are lost in the fray and are the collateral damage of electoral competition. This is why ensuring the creation of a reformed and independently-minded Seanad is so important. The Seanad could be a forum for consensus, for cross-party policy-making and for the type of politics that focuses on Irish citizens, not political point-scoring.

Since the adoption of the Constitution in 1937, the Irish people have been locked out of the Upper House of their Parliament. They have been kept at a distance, unable to participate and only able to observe. This Bill will open up the Seanad to the Irish people and provide another check and balance in respect of policy-making and governance in this country.

I am a strong believer in the idea of a fully participatory democracy. I believe in a democracy where every level of government constantly and consistently seeks new mandates from its citizens in the form of elections. That is why I have co-sponsored a Bill on the Order Paper to lower the voting age to 16 in order to include young people in political decision-making. That is why, as president of Trinity's Students' Union, I led voter registration drives that signed up tens of thousands of students to vote and thus ensure the greatest level of participation by as many people as possible in Irish democracy.

I support the Bill because it will allow for a new forum whereby Irish citizens can directly mandate their representatives to work on their behalf and express their vision for the future of this State. As politicians, we must support all efforts to build a stronger and more symbiotic relationship between Irish politics and Irish citizens. That is why I call on everyone in the House to support the Bill.

My colleague, Senator Norris, will have an opposing view on the following matter. I am a representative of the Trinity constituency. I also campaigned to open up the university vote and was elected because people wanted to open up the Seanad to other universities.