Tom Clonan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister. I note that all the amendments have been ruled out of order. I also note that we are at a particular point where nobody knows what is going to happen in the next couple of weeks. I know the Minister's time is limited in terms of getting this through.

Members, including Senator Malcolm Byrne, spoke at length about the graduates and the institutions that would be inadvertently excluded from this. We had a very constructive exchange and in the Minister’s response, I certainly felt that he agreed with the principle of expanding the franchise to all graduates, not just to particular institutions. I will take that in good faith. I have faith that the Minister will, using whatever discretion he has and in whatever time is available to him, incorporate our concerns into the drafting of the final stages of the legislation. I hope his officials will assist in that.

If and when this Bill is passed, the franchise will be very large. To echo what Senator Byrne said, we would be looking at in excess of 1 million voters registering for a postal vote to elect six university Senators. It would almost be like a presidential race, given that the electorate will be so huge. At the same time, a place like Finglas, where I grew up, has a population of 40,000, which is not far off the constituency of the Trinity panel. Imagine if Finglas had three Senators. I note that in this most privileged constituency, the turnout is relatively low, so it is a major privilege to be able to vote and stand for election from the university panel. With regard to what we said last week, I would favour broader reform and I voted for reform in the last referendum. Senator McDowell spoke at length about the report being prepared with the assistance of people like Senator Warfield and noted that, in time, whatever the composition of the next Administration, it would look at this.

I again note that all of the amendments have been ruled out of order. While I do not want to beat the thing to death, I trust in the Minister’s good faith to incorporate some of our concerns, using whatever discretion he has at this point.