Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will speak to section 3 and the definitions contained in it. We indicated the issues we saw with the section through the amendments we proposed. While our amendments have been ruled out of order, our concerns and issues remain and can be expressed. Our amendments have been available to the Minister. We are being constrained by the limits to what is allowed to be put forward. Even the smallest change can be interpreted as including a charge to the State. The Minister is not so constrained. The points that are being made about this section by me and others are crucial to the effective operation of the Bill. If we were to go to Report Stage, the Minister might come back with amendments to reflect some of the principles that he thought were valid and useful to strengthen the Bill. At a minimum, I would expect similar amendments initiated by the Government to appear in the Dáil to reflect what the Minister committed to. He suggested he would be very open to amendments on how the Bill might be improved and strengthened.

One of the issues that was discussed at length as part of the Seanad reform implementation group related to the fact that certain seats are reserved for graduates. The definition of "graduate" is quite open and wide, constitutionally speaking. I remain of the view that we need to widen the Seanad and ensure that all persons, regardless of whether they are graduates of any institution, have the right to have a say in what is almost half of the legislative process in Ireland. Substantial work is done by the Seanad. At a minimum, it seems to me that the opportunity should be taken, in respect of the university seats, to go with as wide an interpretation as possible. That would reflect the spirit of the 1979 referendum. I have suggested the inclusion, alongside the word "degree", of "diploma or certificate". You are a graduate if you receive a diploma or certificate. A graduate is not solely someone who receives a degree. I suggested removing the phrase "of at least bachelor degree level" from the definition of "degree" and widening the entitlement to vote. That is another possibility of how widening could be done while staying true to the language in the Constitution in respect of those six seats for graduates.

Amendment No. 3 is an alternative to amendment No. 2. It explicitly suggests that advanced certificate level would be a more appropriate bar than bachelor degree. A higher certificate level is suggested under amendment No. 4. If the higher certificate level is felt to be too low, amendment No. 5 proposes the option of "a level 6 qualification awarded within the National Framework of Qualifications established and maintained under ... the Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training Act) 2012". This alternative sets the bar to a wider space. It goes to the fundamental principles of enfranchisement. We have recently celebrated 100 years of the Seanad and Vótáil 100, in recognition of women's access to the franchise. It is frustrating when people see the slow and incremental extension of the franchise. It is happening in tiny pieces and step by tiny step. At this point, more than 100 years into the history of the Seanad, we could be moving at a little bit of a faster pace.

I would be surprised if Members of the House or the Minister would suggest that persons who do not have a bachelor's degree or higher are somehow not capable of making a decision as to who might be a suitable representative for the public in the important work the Seanad engages in, including the scrutiny and initiation of legislation and the examination of that legislation, in particular on thematic grounds, which we see through the panels.

The university seats are somewhat of an anachronism from another time. The situation is similar to what happened with votes for women. We saw things change bit by bit. Only women with property and women over a certain age were entitled to vote. The change came slowly. The same was true of the franchise for men. There was a slow incremental change in the assessment of who could be trusted with the vote. We finally came to the understanding that anybody over 18, woman or man, who is a part of, and a citizen of, our State should be given the right to a vote to elect representatives to Dáil Éireann.The incrementalist approach should not then be reintroduced here. It should not be introduced either in terms of an inadequately ambitious piece of Seanad reform that only addresses six seats and not the other 43. Even within those six seats and within the definitions set out here under section 3, it is a narrow interpretation of what constitutes a graduate. I have in absolutely good faith set out three or four alternatives as to how, within constitutionality - again, this has been tested in our implementation group and we had the legal advice and everything else on it - there can be a widening underneath that term of "graduate" to include those with diplomas or certificates at level 5 or level 6, rather than, as currently constituted, being effectively confined to level 7. I would like if the Minister could address those points in his response.

I also suggest that he should address the issues that would have been addressed under amendments Nos. 6, 7 and 8, which referred to the level of qualification and the interpretation of what constitutes a relevant institution of higher education. We suggested a widening of the institutions as opposed to what is there currently. The institutions of higher education, which are validated by Quality and Qualifications Ireland, would allow for a widening of which institutions may be considered while nonetheless ensuring those institutions are meeting a standard of quality and are credible institutions for inclusion. Amendment No. 7, in subsection (e), referred to "an institution of higher education with delegated authority from QQI under Section 53 or Section 55 of the Qualification and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Act 2012". These tools, which already exist, allow the Minister or his Department to appropriately ensure they are properly regulated institutions of higher education. They should be brought under the definition of institutes of higher education so that we do not see what we have seen during the long battle for recognition of our now technical universities, our institutes of technology, the University of Limerick, DCU, DIT and many other higher education institutions. They have waited far too long to be recognised as higher education institutions for these purposes. Indeed, this legislation has come about on foot of a successful challenge to the Supreme Court by the graduates of these institutions. Let us not leave out a whole other category of higher education institutions and leave their graduates having to battle for this right alongside other graduates. As I say, the battle for the citizen who is not a graduate will continue subsequent to this Act. Amendments Nos. 7 and 8 seek to widen that point. Amendment No. 6, which Senator Warfield and others have co-signed, was a proposal and again an opportunity-----