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A POLITICAL COMMENTATOR who campaigned to keep the Seanad in the 2013 referendum, has said that he’s now not sure if the Seanad is worth saving.
Five years ago, a referendum was held after Enda Kenny announced that the Seanad should be abolished. The majority of the public voted that it should be kept (51.7%), but a lot of the debate before and after the referendum called for reform of the Seanad.
Since being appointed as Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar has made a number of comments to bring about Seanad reform, but nothing has definitively changed. A number of reports have made suggestions to improve the processes at the Seanad, including some that require a constitutional change.
The Manning Report, which had a comprehensive look at what changes were needed in the Seanad, was published in 2015.
Gary Murphy, Head of the School of Law and Government at DCU, who campaigned to save the Seanad in the last referendum on the Seanad, told RTÉ that after five years of seeing reports and proposals, he’s not sure whether the Seanad is still worth keeping.
“We have yet another committee to examine that report… There have been other reports over the last 40 years, and lots of them have good ideas but I just don’t think there’s any political will.
I’m deeply frustrated, disheartened, by it and I think there’s potential for the Seanad but as it exists I’m not convinced it’s worth saving.
Murphy said he doesn’t see the point in getting involved if there were to be another Seanad referendum.
I think the body politic has taken a view, that the Seanad… should be kept rather silent in the corner. I think it’s a waste of opportunity and waste of potential.
A number of issues that have been discussed in the Seanad have made headlines over the past few years, including the infamous “scourge of seagulls” and regulating the sound of ice cream trucks.
But the Seanad has also has dealt with serious topics such as the domestic violence bill, vulture funds buying homes from owners in mortgage arrears, and the Eighth Amendment referendum.
During a discussion on RTÉ’s The Week In Politics today, Fianna Fáil Senator Lorraine Clifford-Lee said there have been 13 reports, a referendum and a discussion on what the Seanad should be, so “there is no real reason why reform can’t happen before the next general election”.
Sinn Féin Senator Rose Conway Walsh said there has been “a lot of nonsense” around changes within the Seanad and accused Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil of blocking real reform.
She said that the system to vote in senators in Ireland is “elitist” and said that Ireland should adopt the US approach, where the electorate vote for senators in a similar way that TDs are elected.
Currently, the system for appointing senators is based on the nominations of 11 members by the Taoiseach, six are elected by university graduates and 43 in Seanad panel elections. There are 60 members in total. Judges, civil servants, and members of the Defence Forces and Gardaí are not allowed to serve as senators.
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Just whats needed. Much of Team GB’s success in this years Olympics is accredited t the increased spending of money on sports equipment and grants since Atlanta 1996.
Would have been nice to see the Olympic shotgun or the Paralympic Rifle shooters getting some funding so…
sure Mark, you know as well as I do that shotgun/rifle funding will happen when pigs fly. can’t be seen to be encouraging guns you know, or some such rot!
it’s a shame as the GAA already receive huge amounts of money from the lottery! funding for less recognised sports such as sailing is a great, the GAA receive to much already.
as far as I can remember the lottery funding it just that…. funding from the lottery, not directly from any government department. And as far as I can remember, any group/association is entitled to apply for lottery funding so maybe the sailing brigade (and I’m only citing them because they’re the example that you use) such consider applying for lottery funding….
As for the issue of the allocations within a government grant, maybe, just maybe, if the same number of people across the country were involved in sailing (again, just using your example, I have nothing against those who sail) as there are involved in GAA then the levels of funding would be higher
per particapant i’m sure the smaller sports did much better than the big four.
per particapant i’m sure the smaller sports did much better than the big four.
A great investment, not only will it tackle the major issue of childhood obesity but also hopefully give us a few more stars in future Olympics!
Oh yeah, people throwing balls around is really going to kick start the economy.
Mutter, Grumble Begrudge.
Would you be a fan of hurling Damacoles?
It’s more to save long-term costs on the healthcare side of things…
Mind you, in 2003 before the boom ever got going, sport contributed around €1.3 billion to the GNP, so it might not kick start the economy, but it’s not bad for it…
Though €2.6 million is a bit down on the €175 million that was spent in the sports capital grant back in 08. Or is this a different grant they’re talking about here?
Mark, I was mocking the tendency of the Begrudgers to turn everything on this site into a comment on the government’s long standing inability to improve the economy. What were you doing?
Keep it coming. There has been under-investment in track and field sports in this country; we could have Olympic champions who never got the chance to reach potential because of lack of facilities etc.
Heart rate monitors ,defibrillators to look after our athletes but no money for hospital equipment.Makes total sense to me.
Now lets take stock for a moment,the government are saying we are all going to suffer higher taxes, new taxes, cuts for those that can least afford cuts ,etc etc. So why, in any effigies name, is money available for sports equipment? We are constantly told we are going to suffer from having less money in our pockets yet its overlooked that ‘we forgot to mention a few million here and a few million there wont make a difference’ ! Shyte!
have your say