| Feargal Quinn: We need to act on one person, one vote for Seanad |
| Wednesday, 12 March 2014 | |
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The people didn't vote to keep the Seanad because they love it just the way it is. They voted because they saw what the Seanad could become – it now falls to the Taoiseach to ensure the will of the people is brought to fruition. Under the Constitution, the Seanad is one of two houses of the legislature. Yet in the first full week of March the Seanad considered only one piece of legislation and this week (the second week of March), just one piece of draft legislation will be considered. The scale of the problem is starkly demonstrated by the fact that the Seanad is not even scheduled to sit today... In spite of the fact that the Government's legislation programme contains multiple pledges to publish new legislation during this term, the legislative stream seems to have dried up. What is most concerning about this is that once new legislation is eventually published, the Government's desire to see that legislation passed before the summer recess will inevitably mean that debates will be prematurely curtailed through the use of the guillotine. All of this does not bode well for the Taoiseach's pledge to deliver upon Seanad reform. One of the most basic reforms needed of the Seanad is the extension of the right to vote. Earlier this year, the Seanad debated a motion tabled by Senator Katherine Zappone calling on the Government to extend the right to vote in Seanad elections to every person in the country as well as to Irish citizens in Northern Ireland and those who are overseas. The motion also called on the Government to ensure that no person has more than one vote. The principles of 'universal suffrage' and 'one person, one vote' are the essence of democracy, right? Well no, not according to this Government. Representing the Government in the debate, Deputy Paul Kehoe, wholeheartedly rejected the call to give every person one vote in Seanad elections, citing that "(if) it was the intention, in framing the Constitution, that there would be a universal franchise for Seanad Eireann, then the Constitution would have so provided . . ." The Government chief whip failed to mention that the Constitution does not in any sense preclude the extension of the franchise to all citizens. Let there be no doubt about it, the Constitution is not an obstacle to extending the franchise to all citizens in Seanad elections. The only obstacle is this Government's stubbornness and refusal to implement the will of the people as expressed on October 4 last year. Judging from its actions to date, the Government seems intent on speaking out of both sides of its mouth. It speaks warmly of the need for Seanad reform while proposing little in the way of meaningful reforms. The Government has put together a paper in which it sets out proposals which are aimed at changing some aspects of how the Seanad conducts its business. Whilst the proposals are to be welcomed, they do not go far enough. In fact, in several areas the proposals reflect the work that the Seanad is already performing. The Government's proposals do not go to the heart of the matter – they do not contain a commitment to give every person a vote in Seanad elections. The Government clearly wants to give the impression that reform is on its way in the hope that people will forget about the significance of the vote last October. The Seanad Bill 2013 which Senator Zappone and I published, and the Bill published by Senator Crown, light the path towards reform of the Seanad. I find it incomprehensible that any Taoiseach would want to maintain a Seanad electoral system whose underlying principle seems to be "one councillor, seven votes", when the majority of citizens have no vote whatsoever. This is truly undemocratic. I know the Taoiseach was unhappy with the referendum result. But rather than walk away now from the Seanad, the Taoiseach should grasp the opportunity to reform it. He should take all of the criticisms the Government levelled at the Seanad during the campaign and fix the underlying problems that gave rise to those criticisms. Mr Kenny should pull the rug out from under this ineffective, impotent Seanad and give the people a new and reinvigorated Seanad. The Taoiseach could be the first Taoiseach to deliver real Seanad reforms – reforms which make the Seanad representative of sectors in society who don't have a voice, as well as those in Northern Ireland and the tens of thousands who have had to emigrate It will be an affront to the wishes of the people if we are to see another Seanad election take place without any major reforms having been delivered. There will be another Seanad election in approximately two years' time. This means there is a window now within which real Seanad electoral reform can be delivered. If this opportunity for sweeping reforms is missed, it will be at least another seven years before the possibility of universal franchise can be achieved. Last October, 634,437 people voted to retain the Seanad. I suspect that for many October 4, 2013 was the first time they had the chance to cast any kind of vote relating to the Seanad. The question now is how much longer the people will have to wait before they can have their say. The people didn't vote to keep the Seanad because they love it just the way it is. They voted because they saw what the Seanad could become – it now falls to the Taoiseach to ensure the will of the people is brought to fruition. This article was originally published in The Irish Independent. See here: http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/feargal-quinn-we-need-to-act-on-one-person-one-vote-for-seanad-30088354.html |
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