I move amendment No. 2:
In page 13, subsection (1) (a), line 44, to delete"20" and substitute "10".
In this amendment I suggest that ten rather than 20 Oireachtas Members should be sufficient to nominate a person to be a candidate in a Presidential election. That is the number provided for in the draft constitution which the Progressive Democrats drew up in 1988. I brought it along to prove this in case there are any doubting Thomases among the Members. The point we are making relates to accessibility to nomination for the office of President. I have tabled other amendments which also go along this line. To a great extent one of the difficulties we have had is, the politicising of the procedure for nominating persons for the office of President, notwithstanding the fact that all of the Presidents have performed their functions in a totally non-partisan and non-political way. I do not in any way suggest that there was any political input into the performance of these functions.
To reflect the type of people we have in society and the different type of society we now have, rather than having a very party political type of nomination procedure it is important that we open it out. This is strictly a numbers game. It is easier for one to be nominated by ten people than by 20 people, although it may be very difficult for some people to get ten people to nominate them. My amendment does not propose that we move away from a serious nominating procedure, which of course we must have. If we were to delete "20" from this subsection and substitute "10" we would find that people who are not politically active but who have contributed a great deal to the community would find it easier to be accepted as a candidate for the Presidency. I wish to hear the Minister's comments on this amendment.
