Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 2:

In page 17, line 7, to delete "2" and substitute "3".

Amendment No. 2 is a consequential amendment to amendment No. 5, which seeks to clarify that with the addition of the Clerk of Seanad Éireann to the electoral commission, there would be three ex officiomembers of the commission.

Amendment No. 4 seeks to clarify that the chairperson of the electoral commission may not be the Chief Justice. I can see from the way this section is worded that it is clearly not the intention of the Government that the Chief Justice would serve as chairperson, given that he or she is in the position of nominating the first chairperson. For clarity, it is important that we specify that the Chief Justice cannot occupy that role, as it is not clear that he or she may not nominate himself or herself under this section. Again, I do not believe this is intentional but my amendment seeks to clarify that it is the case that the Chief Justice cannot serve as chairperson. The Minister of State may be able to offer clarity on this.

Amendment No. 5 is the first in a series of amendments that seek to address the Seanad in this legislation. I will be honest in saying it is incredibly disheartening to see nothing about Seanad reform in this Bill. In his response to the Second Stage debate on the Seanad Bill 2020 introduced by my colleagues, Senators McDowell and Higgins, the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, asked that more time be given to advance work on this legislation and said that proper consideration of that proposal would be forthcoming. That has not happened. I will speak further to this issue with later amendments but I will say that the Clerk of Seanad Éireann performs a separate function to the Clerk of the Dáil and should be an ex officiomember of the electoral commission. Despite all the attention elections for the Dáil receive, elections for this House take place and should be widened so everyone has a right to vote. It should be the case that the Clerk of this House should be a member alongside the Clerk of the Dáil. I urge the Minister of State to accept the amendment.

Amendment No. 6 seeks to amend the criteria that the Public Appointments Service must consider when recommending someone for appointment to the commission. The amendment would insert expertise in the promotion of participation in either Irish or international electoral systems as a desirable quality in a candidate for appointment to the commission. The total election turnout in the 2020 general election was 62.9%. This is not high enough and not enough people in Ireland are engaged in the political system. I want to be clear that participation does not just mean voting; it means engagement with politicians on issues that people care about and challenging us here in these Houses to represent people. It means encouraging people excluded from the political system to run for election and to be empowered to participate in elections. We need someone with this sort of expertise on the commission and I encourage the Minister of State to accept this amendment.

Amendment No. 9 would insert a new subsection into section 9 requiring that where recommending to the Government persons for appointment as ordinary members of the commission, the service shall have due regard to obligations under section 42 of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Act 2014 and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. We have complementary amendments that refer to the Equality Acts when making appointments and the core of what we are trying to get at here is that when the service is making appointments, it must think about equity and reflect public sector duty obligations. The electoral commission must be diverse and properly reflect Irish society. If we do not do this, we will continue to have an inequitable political system.

I urge the Minister of State to accept this amendment. It is relatively straightforward in that it names existing legal obligations but it is important that we name them explicitly and put in the legal obligations so that they are reflected in the process.