Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As far as I am concerned, we are all paid well for doing this job. The Taoiseach set up the Seanad reform implementation group and 20 or so people sat around a table on around 15 occasions. I thank the staff, the civil servants and the guests who helped us in our work. The cost would be significant if one did the calculation and yet I feel mugged as I stand here. On behalf of Sinn Féin, I heavily engaged in the process and did so in good faith. We tabled as many, if not more, amendments to the Bill and the report as anyone else but we all worked together, as a collective, to produce a report. There was never going to be a unanimous report, which is why the Dáil and Seanad are still free to amend the legislation, if they so wish, and yet I feel mugged. Where in the terms of reference are panels mentioned or the modern relevance of the panel titles? The Minister of State mentioned this as being a "fundamental issue". The Taoiseach said the same thing when he came to the Seanad or certainly when he stood up in the Dáil and addressed the launch of this report. The names of the panels do not matter a damn. What matters is universal voting, all students being allowed to vote in whatever capacity, and voting rights for citizens who live in the North and abroad.The legislation has gathered dust and there has been no progress on it. We now face a situation whereby Senators will return to the electorate, probably next year, and canvass for fewer than 1,000 votes in the case of those standing for one of the vocational panels. Every time the Leader of the House addresses this issue, he refers to the section at the back of the report which includes our other or extended ideas. Sinn Féin did not produce an alternative report.