Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit agus fáiltím roimh an deis an cheist seo a phlé leis. The Minister of State is most welcome.

Like other colleagues, I welcome the opportunity to discuss this important proposal. I note that during the course of his remarks, the Minister of State referred to the important preparatory work under way within his Department to implement any potential outcome of next year's planned referendum on presidential election voting rights. I am glad and acknowledge the impetus that there seems to be in that regard. I know that it has been a complex and laborious process, but we are now in the final furlong and it looks like there will be a referendum, please God, next May. That in itself logically warrants the establishment of a commission that will be fit for purpose and meet the ever changing and bespoke arrangements that will be required to provide for this change in the electoral architecture and also for all of the reasons outlined by colleagues across the Chamber with regard to the outdated nature of what has been in place previously.

While, for obvious reasons, I have stressed the issue of presidential election voting rights for people resident outside the State, other potential changes, to which colleagues have alluded, are coming down the line. When the Taoiseach was before us earlier in the year to discuss Seanad reform, he laid out clearly that, politically, for him and the Government, he wanted to see a universal franchise in Seanad elections. It would include citizens across the Thirty-two Counties and I assume those qualifying within the global diaspora such as those who have recently emigrated. Another perhaps unusual but, given the legal advice presented to Ms Martina Anderson, MEP, very doable proposal involves the allocation of two additional seats following Brexit to represent the North. I do not know if this has featured in considerations related to the commission, but I am sure it has featured more broadly. If it has not, I commend that legal advice and recommendation to the Minister of State that the two additional European Parliament seats be utilised. How the mechanics of the election would work is something to be looked at, which is why the legal advice is important. It gives us the potential to do something different and positive which would be inclusive. It would give people the most basic right and entitlement - the right to vote.

Has the Minister of State looked to the North and the electoral commission in place there? I am not saying it is perfect by any stretch, but much of what has been called for and proposed by colleagues in the Seanad is happening just up the road. There may be an opportunity to engage, share best practice and look at existing best practice. As we know, the commission operates entirely independently from the Executive and the political structures in the North.