Reform the Seanad now and end its reign as a dysfunctional house elected by a tiny minority

In the run up to the general election in 2011 the Taoiseach promised a new kind of politics, one which would be underpinned by wholesale political reform. The people put their faith in those promises and voted for change. But as this Government readies itself for election mode we find that in terms of political reform - sadly, very little has changed...

Yes, the Taoiseach delivered upon his promise to hold a referendum on the future of the Seanad. But the people did not like his abolition proposal - and we now find ourselves at the first anniversary of the Seanad abolition referendum where not one significant reform has been implemented.

The people did not vote to retain the Seanad in its current form - a dysfunctional Seanad which is largely elected by a small clique of political elites from which ordinary people are excluded.

The people voted for real reform of the Seanad and it is incumbent upon this Government, within the time now remaining, to honour the wishes of the people or face having Seanad reform become an issue on the door steps at the next election. Is it really the Government's wish to keep the Seanad on the margins of the political landscape as a safehouse for unelectable and fading politicians? While we welcome the Government's pledge to extend the right to vote in Seanad elections to all third-level graduates, much much more needs to be done.

So how can the Government go about giving effect to the wishes of the people to reform the Seanad? In May 2013, we published a Bill to reform the Seanad. The Bill, which contains many radical and far-reaching reforms, has passed second stage in the Seanad.

To ease the Bill's journey to enactment, we propose to amend our Bill at Committee Stage so as to ensure that it is capable of delivering a core set of fundamental reforms which all parties can agree on. Those core reforms are: One person, one vote. This would mean that every person who is eligible to vote in a Dail election would equally be eligible to vote in a Seanad election. The principles of 'universal suffrage' are the essence of democracy. If the Government is serious in its belief that "there must also be a real shift in power from the State to the citizen" then addressing the democratic deficit is the place to start.

The right to vote must be extended to Irish citizens abroad - so that Irish people who had to emigrate and who maintain a strong connection with the country can have a voice at Seanad elections.

Introduction of popular nomination - through which a critical mass of people could nominate candidates to run for the Seanad, ending the stranglehold which the political parties hold over the Seanad. At the moment, nominations to the Seanad are largely controlled by the political parties. Under our proposal, a person may be nominated to run in a Seanad election if they secure the support of 500 people.

There seems to be little point in overhauling the Seanad electoral process if we are not going to give the Seanad a new mandate. The role of the Seanad needs to be overhauled so that it is given responsibility for the scrutiny of matters such as public appointments, EU legislation and the power to hold public interest inquiries.

On October 4 last year the people gave their verdict on the Seanad. The Taoiseach may have viewed it as a "wallop", but we see it very differently - it was a mandate for Seanad reform. The Taoiseach needs to implement the wishes of the people - he now has the opportunity to be the first Taoiseach to deliver real Seanad reforms. Getting on with the task of delivering historic reforms of the upper house would signal a genuine shift to the "new politics" which he promised.

This article was originally published via Independent.ie