Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

-----the National College of Ireland is also a northside institution now, so hopefully it will be designated by that stage as well.

I would certainly agree with the Minister in terms of the register of electors. Most universities are even moving to that situation now whereby they are ready to encourage people and ask them as they sign up to graduate whether they would like to be added to the register. In the future, it will be a relatively easy proposition. I certainly imagine any of those who are on existing registers are enthusiastic enough about it. Even recently, the National University of Ireland, NUI, was electing its chancellor and in those circumstances, those who were eligible to vote had to apply to be able to seek a vote. Indeed, there was no cost to the Exchequer because people had to pay for their own stamp to send the ballot paper back in. There will be a bit of proactivity in this regard.

There is also enough of a lead-in period to have an information campaign around this new sixth seat. It could re-energise the whole university panel. I think we will see a debate. In fact, we could probably see hustings around the country involving some of the candidates.