Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

In 1979 the people voted to amend the Constitution to provide that the pool of universities that would elect six Members of Seanad Éireann could be widened to include other institutions of higher education in the State. I know Senator Malcolm Byrne also has an interest in this issue. Nothing happened, as often occurs in Irish politics. On 31 March the Supreme Court effectively forced the hand of the Government and the Oireachtas by ruling that the current basis for elections is unconstitutional, because of the exclusion of universities like the University of Limerick. That is the alma mater of Tomás Heneghan who brought the case, and I congratulate him for making legal history. The Supreme Court has not formalised its ruling so as not to undermine the current structure of the Houses, so the Government has until 31 July to make submissions. The Supreme Court seems to have borrowed from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venicewhere Portia is encouraged "to do a great right do a little wrong." I am not sure whether it was judicially activist of the court to make the decision. This is a decision that ought to have been made by the Oireachtas. However, nobody could argue against the need for change in this area. I would like to hear from the Government in early course about what it plans to do. It has had plenty of calls from this House to bring forward reform. I ask for a debate on that issue in early course.