THE FIRST HUSTINGS for the Trinity Panel in the Seanad election took place tonight, with candidates answering questions on a range of topics including data centres, housing, LGBTQ rights and climate change.
Only Trinity College alumni are entitled to vote for candidates in this panel, with three seats up for grabs.
The current senators for Trinity are Lynn Ruane and Tom Clonan, who are both seeking re-election. The final seat has remained vacant since David Norris’s retirement in early 2024.
Fifteen of the 16 candidates running for a seat participated in tonight’s hustings which took place in Trinity College’s Business School. Independent Abbas Ali O’Shea was unable to attend due to a family bereavement.
The evening was split into two randomly selected panels moderated by broadcaster Áine Kerr. Eight candidates participated in the first panel while the remaining seven took part in the second session.
Among the Seanad hopefuls was former Minister Katherine Zappone, who is seeking to re-enter Irish politics after returning from the United States last year where she has been since 2020.
This first panel of the night answered questions relating to three core areas: third level education, business innovation and housing. The second panel focused on three separate issues: health, climate change and diversity and inclusion.
A significant portion of the second session was dedicated to climate change.
Independent Tom Clonan opened his remarks in this section by saying: “I have to declare a conflict of interest, Minister [Ossian] Smyth here, is my local TD”, Smyth, who lost his seat in the general election, interjected to quietly correct him: “Was”.
Clonan continued: “I commend the work of my colleagues in the Green Party and I’m sorry to see so many of them lose their seats.
“I live 150m from the sea and my Green colleagues tell me that by 2050 I could be under water, and I’m talking Spongebob SquarePants.”
Clonan added that through his previous work as an international peacekeeper he has seen directly the impact of climate change on the Middle East.
While in Iraq and Syria he witnessed 250,000 refugees, many of them trying to escape conflict and the effects of climate change.
“It’s something that is going to impact on us here and we have to show leadership in that regard… We absolutely must address this fundamental existential challenge to the planet and to our survival as a species,” Clonan said, adding that he would identify “hyper-capitalism” as the cause.
During the same discussion on climate change, Labour’s candidate Sadbh O’Neill pushed back on Independent candidate Laoise de Brún’s assertion that we don’t have the climate in Ireland for “everyone cycling everywhere”.
De Brún argued that farmers “shouldn’t be targeted” in relation to climate change and claimed they have been “vilified”. Instead she argued that we aren’t having an adequate conversation about the problems caused by new industries, noting the huge emissions associated with crypto currency and data centres.
O’Neill said she was grateful to Clonan for “zooming out” and talking about the scale of the challenges faced.
“Because very often when you’re discussing climate action, as we did this evening, it boils down into whether or not Ireland is a good place to cycle. It gets incredibly petty very quickly when instead we need to appreciate the absolute urgency of reducing emissions,” O’Neill said, adding that climate change is accelerating.
“We have every reason to be absolutely scared out of our wits and it means we have to upturn our political thinking.”
The Labour candidate called for the introduction of a windfall tax on major energy users.
Independent Kevin Byrne argued that more cycle infrastructure is needed and that e-bikes should form a bigger part of the solution in Irish cities like Dublin.
Social Democrats candidate and councillor Paul Mulville made the point that in his seaside community of Portrane, they are at the “coal face of climate breakdown” where people’s houses have “fallen into the sea” because of coastal erosion.
Mulville argued that the State’s reaction has been much too slow and said he would make climate action a key issue if elected to Seanad.
‘That’s how policy gets done’
The evening had few moments of contention between candidates, but the first came during a discussion on data centres when candidates shared their views on whether the moratorium on new data centres in Dublin should remain in place.
Independent Marcus Matthews argued that the moratorium should be lifted on economic grounds.
Matthews, who works in commercial development, described himself as someone who tends to “look at everything through the economic lens, that’s how public policy gets done.”
Other candidates including Catherine Zappone and Green councillor Hazel Chu disagreed with Matthews, with Zappone arguing it should be retained unless operated by 100% green energy.
One of the testiest moments of the night was between O’Neill and de Brún in relation to transgender rights.
De Brún, who is the founder of The Countess, an advocacy organisation that campaigns against the inclusion of transgender identity education in schools, argued that transgender women shouldn’t be allowed in women’s spaces.
In a question from the audience, editor of the University Times, Brídín Ní Fhearraigh-Joyce said that as a member of the LGBTQ community she has no problem with transgender people and asked de Brún “what makes her qualified” to talk about the rights of lesbian, gay and bisexual people.
In response, de Brún spoke about the Gender Recognition Act and said she has “no doubt it was brought in from a place of compassion [and] that’s a good thing” but that there is now a “conflict of rights when it comes to sports, prisons, safe spaces… toilets.”
Labour’s O’Neill took issue with de Brún’s approach to the rights of trans people.
“What trans people want is respect and equality, and that is not so much to ask for in a world where we are supposed to guarantee civil liberties for everybody,” O’Neill said.
Elsewhere, candidates discussed housing, with Zappone calling for the establishment of a state construction company.
Independent candidate Aubrey McCarthy, who is the founder of homelessness and addiction charity Tiglin argued that the model implemented by his organisation could be successful right across the country if there was buy-in from government.
You can learn more about all of the candidates running in the University of Dublin constituency here.
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