A committee on Seanad reform is set to tell the Government that the public should be given the right to vote in Seanad elections, The Irish Times has learned.
In a report calling for sweeping changes in the functions and com-position of the Seanad, the Government will be told that the number of senators elected by local councillors and TDs should be radically reduced.
In addition, the committee will call for the abolition of the Seanad vocational panels which nominate candidates for Seanad elections. It will also seek an extension of the university franchise.
The report is also understood to say the next leader of the Seanad should have the right to attend Cabinet meetings with the status of a Minister or Minister of State. However, the current leader, Senator Mary O'Rourke, will indicate in the report that she does not wish to be considered for such a position.
The report by a subcommittee of the Seanad Committee on Procedure and Privileges will be published in a fortnight. It will say that the number of Seanad seats should be increased to 65 from 60.
While little change if any followed 11 previous reports on Seanad reform since 1928, the committee is understood to have concluded that the house has no distinctive role in the Irish political system.
The committee is expected to say that the Seanad will lack public legitimacy for as long as the majority of the public is excluded from voting for it.
The central proposal will increase the Seanad franchise to include all those entitled to vote in a Dáil election.
The committee wants a simul-taneous reduction in the number of senators elected by local councillors and TDs after general elections. This will be reduced to 20 from 43.
The report is also understood to say that the Taoiseach's nominations should be increased by one to 12. Such nominees should include one each from the nationalist and unionist traditions in Northern Ireland.
It will also say that the Taoiseach's nominees should encompass under-represented and excluded groups in Irish society as well as people who can represent the interests of emigrants and immigrants.
The report is understood to state that there should be a system of rolling renewal of the Seanad, with half its members elected every five years and the other half after a general election.
In such a system, the Seanad would not be automatically dissolved every time there is a general election.
The report will say that direct elections by the public and university graduates should take place on the same day as the local and European elections.
It will call for a single national constituency consisting of 26 seats elected according to a list-PR system.
The report will say the university franchise should be extended to include graduates from DCU and the University of Limerick. Such a change was endorsed in a constitutional referendum in 1979. Graduates would elect six senators according to the single transferable vote system.
