Changes in how six senators are elected to the Seanad are set to be approved by the Government.
The Seanad Electoral (University Members) (amendment) Bill 2024 will create a new six-seat 'Higher Education' constituency for electing university members.
This will replace the existing NUI and University of Dublin (Trinity College Dublin) constituencies.
The change will extend the franchise for electing university members of Seanad Éireann to all graduates of institutions of higher education who hold Irish citizenship.
At the moment the six University Seanad Éireann seats are elected in two three-seat constituencies.
The legislation is likely to go before the Dáil in the coming weeks, but the changes will not take effect until possibly 2030.
This move by the Government arises from the Supreme Court ruling on the constitutionality of how university members are elected to the Seanad.
The Supreme Court judgment requires that the change is in place by the end of May 2025.
The Supreme Court judgment in May 2023 means that the Oireachtas must remedy the unconstitutional provisions of the 1937 Seanad Electoral Act.
The court found that Article 18.4.2 of the Constitution, brought in after a referendum in 1979, mandated the Oireachtas to enact legislation to include the electorates of other institutions of higher education as well as NUI or TCD.
But the court found such legislation was never enacted, meaning graduates of institutions other than TCD and NUI have no entitlement to vote for candidates on the university panel.
The ruling came in a case taken by Tomás Heneghan, who is a graduate of the University of Limerick.
