Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I note the Minister of State's response. I see the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, and Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, are working on proposals to bring to Cabinet. First, those proposals should be the subject of major consultation with the relevant committees of the Oireachtas, the relevant university institutions, the Electoral Commission and the wider public. Second, I emphasise that it is hugely important that we do not just simply concentrate on the university seats, which do need reform, and I have legislation before the House to implement a reform, but that we take one step further and say that those people in Ireland who do not have university degrees - people who are working in hospitals, building sites, farms and factories - are not second-class citizens. If we give the vote to 1.8 million people, who are university graduates, to vote for six seats, we owe it to the remainder of the population to give them some say in the election of the remaining 43 seats, as proposed in the Manning report.