Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Ar son na gComhaltaí Neamhspleácha sa Teach seo, is mian liom comhghairdeas a bhronnadh ort, a Chathaoirligh, tar éis duit a bheith tofa mar Chathaoirleach arís.

The Cathaoirleach mentioned in his few words a number of things that go to the heart of our function in this House. One of them is being part of the democratic function of the State. It is the case that the process of reform is slowly taking place on this occasion. The two constituencies that I, Deputy Higgins and four other Senators represent will no longer be in place and we will have a new system for electing representatives from the graduates of Irish institutions of higher education and the universities. That minor reform of the way in which one tenth of the membership of this House is elected is a step forward, but there is, as the Cathaoirleach mentioned in his few words, the important point that, as in democracies across the world, ordinary citizens, regardless of whether they have a university degree or have been privileged to have participated in higher education, should have the same right and entitlement to a say in the composition of this House as graduates of third level institutions.

It seems the logic of what the Cathaoirleach has said about the importance of popular participation in the democratic process means we cannot aspire to having this House re-elected time and again on the basis that two thirds or three quarters of the citizens of the State are excluded from the democratic process while a smaller fraction, perhaps up to a million in the end, get to vote because they have had the privilege of higher education. For that reason, I reiterate, at the beginning of this session, my absolute determination to keep to the fore the process of reform of how Members of this House are elected. It is not that I in any sense dismiss or devalue the indirect process whereby county councillors, Members of the Dáil and outgoing Members of the Seanad have a say in the composition of this House, but the Manning report and the Seanad Reform Implementation Group both came up with what I consider to be a reasonable compromise, namely that a majority of the Members of this House would be elected by a one-person, one-vote system, whereas a minority would be elected by members of local authorities and Members of the Oireachtas. Maurice Manning, a former Senator, TD and president of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, devised that formula within the terms of the Constitution. It does not require a referendum to implement it. It seems the time has come for all Members of this House to understand there are those who look to people like me and the rest of us and ask why we are here and what is so special about us such that they do not have a vote in the same way as university graduates do.I hope that people will take it not in any sense as devaluing their election. I know how difficult it is to be elected to this House under the present system. Sometimes it is more difficult to be elected indirectly than it is directly. However, I hope those people who have been lucky enough to be indirectly elected to this House will see that the case for reform has never been as strong as it is now, especially since the higher education franchise is to be extended to probably up to one million people.

With those few words I want to reiterate my congratulations to the Cathaoirleach. I fully endorse what Senator Higgins said about his track record in terms of reform and what he said about the statutory instruments being scrutinised before they become law and, indeed, the failure of the Houses of the Oireachtas to take seriously at all the process of engagement with the European Parliament legislative process, which, unfortunately, is practically zero in this day and age. We can do more. We can contribute more to the formulation of laws for our country.

I will make a final remark. We do not know the process whereby Senator Daly became the agreed candidate to be nominated for the position of Cathaoirleach today; we can only read the tea leaves. If the tea leaves are to be believed, however, he had healthy competition from very fine candidates and that means that all the more congratulations are due to him for being elected in the face of such fine competition.