Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

It seems to me that the reason for the narrowness of the interpretation of "graduate" relates largely to the size of the constituency that will already flow from the definitions put forward in section 3 but, of course, the Seanad Bill 2020 addressed this issue. We will have a situation where six seats will be elected by a potential constituency of up to a million electors, as was highlighted by the Minister - the figure he suggested was around 900,000 - while 43 seats are elected by a constituency in the hundreds. That is a clear inequity. As I said, I do not see why it is not actually the case that you do one and then the others. To do both is not just more democratic and enfranchising and the right thing to do, it is also the practical thing to do. As our legislation set out, it was within the Constitution to allow that graduates would have the opportunity to elect a candidate from the graduate panel to a seat, but that they would also have the option to instead vote on one of the other thematic panels. That would bring about a situation whereby those 900,000 electors would not, in all likelihood, all be voting on the NUI constituency. Rather, many of them who care about one of the other important thematic areas, be it education, labour or agriculture, would choose to instead use their one vote – it would be one vote per person, which is a fundamental democratic principle – in one of the other panels, thereby distributing better and leading to a more equal sense of franchisement in voting, rather than 900,000 being pooled into just six seats and a few hundred having an opportunity to elect the other 43. This is extremely relevant to the Minister’s point in response to my request for widening the definition of "graduate" to say that it is not actually the case that it needs to be such a huge constituency. There were many practical measures and the most practical measure is to provide multiple places where the vote can be spent.

I will come back to the Minister. I have relevant amendments later but he mentioned the Electoral Commission. I think the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, promised us previously that these issues of Seanad reform would be addressed by the Electoral Commission. It was given a mandate for European elections, Dáil elections and local elections, however, with a very notable absence of responsibility in respect of Seanad elections. My many amendments to introduce a mandate for working on Seanad reform into the Electoral Commission were rejected by this Government. We are told not to worry because the Electoral Commission is there but the Government made an explicit choice to close off many of the main areas of work we need on Seanad reform from the mandate given to the Electoral Commission. There are some amendments slightly expanding that within this Bill but they are extremely narrow. If there is any sincerity about using the Electoral Commission to engage in Seanad reform, then I expect my amendments to expand the brief of the Electoral Commission and give it permission to work on Seanad reform will be accepted by the Government or, if not accepted, will be mirrored by the Government in the Dáil.