Barry Ward (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am in no way a small parcel. However, Senator McDowell is somewhat comparing apples with oranges when talking about the different votes because the electorates and the size of the electorates on each panel are very different. There is a danger of suggesting that this House should be elected in the same way as the Dáil is elected. I doubt that anybody is suggesting that, but we do not want a mirror of the other House. One of the great strengths of this House is that it is a reforming Chamber. It looks at things from a different perspective. The six university Senators in the House are, perhaps, the strongest advocates of that, and have been for many years and certainly since I have been following politics. They are Members who come with an alternative perspective that is tremendously important.

In conclusion, it is astonishing that we have waited as long as we have. The referendum that was passed in 1979 was during the Fourteenth Seanad. This is the Twenty-sixth Seanad and it has been 41 years since then. While acknowledging that it does not do everything we would like to do in Seanad reform, it behoves us to make the changes that were voted for by the people in 1979, whatever that motivation was. I acknowledge what Senator McDowell said, but the reality is that we have been given the power to make these changes, and we should do so. The provisions that are artfully put together in this Bill, in terms of not trying to define or corral them, give the Minister the power to make those regulations to expand the franchise to everybody.

I finally note that there is power in the Bill to include not just degree graduates and graduates of universities but anybody who attains a certain level in terms of a qualification, which also includes green certificate recipients, who are farmers, and other people. I take the point Senator McDowell made that we need to widen the franchise to the greatest extent possible to include people. That would benefit them and this House.