Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of Fianna Fáil, I take the opportunity to commend Senator Malcolm Byrne on bringing forward the Bill and getting it to Committee Stage. We have had a lot of conversations around Seanad reform in the Chamber in this and previous terms. We all accept that the way the Seanad has been established and the fact that only graduates of certain universities have a vote needs to be addressed and the courts have acknowledged that. I understand a body of work is being done in the Minister's Department to deal with it. We are now working to a timeline.

On this side of the House, we are on the record as saying that it does not stop with university seats. I am sure others take the same position. The Seanad is much bigger than that and a bigger body of work on Seanad reform needs to take place. However, it is important. In recent years, we have seen the establishment of the technological universities, such as the Atlantic Technological University, ATU, in my consitutency in the west and north-west, taking in Galway, Mayo, Sligo and Donegal, where we now have a broad campus covering the western seaboard. No graduate of ATU can currently vote in Seanad elections and that needs to be addressed. We have come a long way as regards reforming our third level institutions. I am proud to say that I now live in a university town, Castlebar. It has been a huge boost for the local area. The qualifications obtained in all third level institutions are of the best quality and highest standards and compete on an international stage. With that in mind, for example, graduates of UL do not have an opportunity to vote in Seanad elections.It was a graduate of that college who took the case to the courts which has now resulted in moving us further along in respect of the reforms required. I commend that body of work. I say that because it is no small thing to take a case to the courts to challenge the State. It is a big undertaking and does not happen very often, so the graduate who did that work is to be commended. In the Fianna Fáil Party, Senator Malcolm Byrne, who drafted this Bill, and I know other legislation was on the books previously, has been a strong supporter of Seanad reform. He chose to focus in this legislation on the university element because of the referendum result that was never fully enacted. This was one element of Seanad reform and he is focusing on this predominantly because he is our spokesperson on further and higher education.

He has been receiving many representations from students and graduates of universities not currently part of the electorate of Seanad Éireann. This is the motivation behind the Bill. He has had the full support of the Fianna Fáil Parliamentary Party and our Seanad group here in the Chamber to move this Bill forward. He has been vociferous in advancing this legislation and in working with the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, to try to get it advanced and achieve some progress. Having spoken to students, including members of Ógra Fianna Fáil, and there are many of our youth members in many colleges throughout the country, they have told us about the unfairness and inequity of the situation and that there is an imbalance in this situation. Reference was made to the fact that, for example, Trinity College Dublin, TCD, has three seats and the National University of Ireland, NUI, has just three seats as well. There is an imbalance there as well. The rationale behind this initially-----