Please read my manifesto for re-election to the Seanad 2011:

Dear Graduate,

If I am re-elected to serve in the next Seanad, I will continue to advocate on your behalf on a wide variety of issues.

Below are just some of the key issues I intend to pursue on behalf of NUI graduates in Seanad Éireann. I ask for your vote so I can continue this important work...

For further information, including a more detailed run-through of my core policy areas and all of my Seanad contributions, please see my user-friendly website www.feargalquinn.ie

I am also available on Facebook. Should you wish to contact me directly feel free to telephone me on (01) 618 3222 or by email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Reform of the Seanad

I have witnessed at first hand the important role which the Seanad plays in providing a “brake” on the power of the Dáil. Yet the Seanad is not perfect. It needs fundamental reform to ensure it is more representative of the wider population. Any such reform should allow the opinions and expertise of different voices, especially those from the business and voluntary sectors, to be heard. The new Dáil should not be given a free reign to introduce legislation at will that impacts on you, the citizen, without proper scrutiny.

Protecting existing jobs

I will do my utmost to protect existing jobs, something which is so often forgotten by politicians in the major political parties. As an independent Senator free from party ties, I recently introduced The Construction Contracts Bill in the Seanad. This will bring considerable benefits to sub-contractors by ensuring they are paid what they are due and introducing a swift adjudication process where there is a dispute. I believe that this legislation could have averted the loss of hundreds of jobs for sub-contractors. If re-elected, I will do everything to make sure this vital Bill is passed as a matter of urgency.

Improving and exporting our education system

As an NUI Graduate, you are well aware of the world-class education you received. However, there is a real danger that education will suffer if not properly funded. I will fight in the Seanad for continued investment in third and fourth-level education. But I also see real potential for expansion of our education system on an international scale. This includes not only physically bringing students here to learn, but also the licensing of our education services abroad and/or exporting them online.

Healthcare

Our health system is far from perfect. It is a scandal that people on waiting lists for organs continue to die unnecessarily in Ireland. As an independent Senator, I introduced a Private Member’s Bill on Presumed Consent - The Human Body Organs and Tissue Bill. The Bill is intended to save lives by providing for a presumption in favour of consent having been given for organ donation, unless it is expressly withheld. Similar systems have been introduced in other EU countries, saving many lives each year.

Promoting recovery

I will support measures to reduce costs for business and to cut out red-tape so that employers can recruit more easily. We also have to fundamentally re-examine our obsolete bankruptcy laws to encourage entrepreneurs to start again. We must seek to tap into the huge jobs potential of alternative energy such as wind power. As a small island economy, our future prosperity depends on our ability to sell goods and services such as the agri-food sector, to the outside world. I will continue to push for initiatives in the Seanad which will ensure that exports drive our recovery and create employment.

During these challenging economic times, many graduates and their families are worrying for their futures, with the spectre of emigration looming large once again.

Now more than ever there is a need to leave behind the “local politics” of the past. Ireland needs patriotic politicians - those who are “doers” with experience of achieving success in the business world – to step up to the plate.

Independent Senator Feargal Quinn opened his company, Superquinn, during a recession. He went on to build a successful company that created thousands of jobs in the retail sector, the largest employer in the Irish economy. In his role as a public representative, and more recently while travelling around the country with RTÉ’s Feargal Quinn’s Retail Therapy TV programme, he has witnessed firsthand the effect the current economic climate is having on people on the ground.

Feargal believes there is still a powerful drive among many people to succeed. They must be provided with the tools they need to do so. This country can re-emerge from the difficulties it faces on the economic front by removing red tape, fostering entrepreneurship and injecting a renewed sense of positivity.

Ireland needs far more fundamental reform. It should be run as a business, playing to our strengths as a nation renowned for its highly educated, hard working people, while also protecting the most vulnerable in society. A reformed and revitalised Seanad Éireann can play a key role in this, if it is given the chance.

About Senator Feargal Quinn

Superquinn founder Feargal Quinn has been an independent member of the Seanad since 1993.

Over the course of a long and varied career, he has made many contributions to Irish public life. Most prominently, he was chairman of An Post for 10 years. He also chaired the steering committee that introduced the Leaving Cert Applied, and served as Chairman of Ireland’s National St. Patrick’s Festival.

He is Adjunct Professor at the National University of Ireland Galway and he is a member of the Board of the UCD Institute of Food and Health. He is the author of the best–selling book, “Crowning the Customer”. The TV series “Feargal Quinn’s Retail Therapy” on RTE 1 achieved top ratings and he is currently planning a third series. He has received three honorary doctorates from Irish educational institutions and a Papal Knighthood.

On the international scene, Feargal serves on the board of the American-based Food Marketing Institute. He is a former Chairman of EuroCommerce, the Brussels based retail organisation, and of the Paris-based CIES – the Food Business Forum.

Feargal is a commerce graduate of University College, Dublin and is married with five adult children.

To download the manifesto in its original and printable format, please click here.