By Senator Feargal Quinn

This week, the Taoiseach will appoint 11 people to the Seanad, in an almost medieval act of patronage. The chances are he will follow with tradition and appoint people from the party ranks, most likely those who did not get elected to the Dáil...

But, with one stroke of his pen, he could transform the Upper House. If, instead of appointing 11 Fine Gael supporters whose ambition is to win a Dáil seat on some future occasion, he were to appoint achievers from outside politics, we could end up with the chamber we deserve, vibrant and driven by new ideas.

We all know the Seanad needs fundamental reform to ensure it is more representative of the wider population, such as people with disabilities. Any such reform should allow the opinions and expertise of different voices, especially those from the business and voluntary sectors, to be heard.

The 1937 Constitution that established the Seanad had a worthy objective. To ensure members had experience and expertise in different fields of endeavour, it established different vocational panels, such as Agricultural, Labour, Industrial and Commercial. This has not worked out as planned, however, as those elected all are political party representatives. Also, consider the growth of the pharmaceutical and information technology sectors, yet they are unable to nominate candidates to represent them.

It’s time to change the election system, to modernise it to reflect the Ireland we now live in. The Seanad cannot be a retirement ground for would-be TDs who have failed to be elected. That is why Dáil and Seanad elections should be held on the same day.

There are signs of hope for the new Seanad, though. Senator John Crown, elected by graduates of the NUI, has particular experience as a doctor at the coalface of the health service. In his new role as an independent Senator, he will have a hand in the reform of our health system and improve the service to patients.

Senator Crown will fight to improve service to cancer patients. He aims to ensure the government fulfills its promise to introduce equitable, single-tier healthcare funded by a mixture of public and private insurance, in spite of our economic problems.

The Minister for Health, Dr James Reilly, needs to closely listen to such views. This shift to listen to experts already is apparent in Britain’s National Health Service, where doctors are now to be given sole responsibility for overseeing frontline care to patients.

At this time, what Ireland needs is patriotic politicians – those who are ‘doers’, like Senator Crown, and others who have experience of achieving success. Instead of tarring all those in politics with the same negative brush, we should be thankful there are those who want to get involved in politics, who are positive about Ireland’s future and who want to make a real difference to our society.

We need people who are less party political and who can give an expert perspective on legislation. We need to foster this independent thought which is so often stifled in the Dáil.

There is precedent. As a senator, Mary Robinson argued eloquently for women’s rights and the liberalisation of laws on personal freedoms. At present, the Seanad keeps issues of public importance high on the agenda, such as the rights of older people and suicide prevention through Senator Mary White; gay rights and equality through Senator David Norris; and public-sector reform through Senator Marc McSharry.

Senator Ronan Mullen has been a loud campaigner for worthy initiatives such as improving end-of-life care and stands for ‘respect for the dignity of the person at all stages of life’.

The re-election of Senator Ivana Bacik and others who think as she does will ensure that women’s issues, especially their proportionate representation in politics, cannot simply be put on the backburner by the new government.

But while their contributions are outstanding, the new Seanad also will be injected with lots of much-needed fresh blood and new thinking when it convenes. Sinn Féin's Kathryn Reilly, at 22, has become the youngest member of the Houses of the Oireachtas.

And, in the way that Senator Shane Ross made such prescient contributions to debates on our financial sector, and indeed made crucial changes to legislation, I hope that new senators may play a part. For instance, the economist, Dr Seán Barrett on the Dublin University Panel, can provide vital insights into how to get our economy back on track.

Such contributions could be so worthwhile given the dearth of experts in the Department of Finance during the boom years and the resulting cataclysm in the economy. Dr Barrett hopes the Seanad and the Dáil will drive the economic recovery ‘because so many institutions have failed in recent years’.

The quality of debate, with senators taking a national rather than a local view, is one of the Seanad’s defining features. This is especially true in issues of vital national importance – for example, legislation that has come before the House on the banking sector and prison reform.

The Seanad is not perfect. However, the election of people like Professor John Crown is an example of how it allows the opinions and know-how of different experts to be put into action.

It is perfectly clear to me that the most important role the Seanad plays is in providing a ‘brake’ on the power of the Dáil.  It is a forum for in-depth scrutiny of legislation that has a profound affect on the citizens of this country. If we abolish the Seanad, then we run the risk of the majority of the day in the Dáil simply signing off on bad legislation.

We also would lose independent voices, which would be tragic given that independent senators actually can achieve quite a lot.

For instance, I proposed the legislation that closed a dangerous loophole in our nationality and citizenship legislation, which had permitted the ‘passports for sale’ scheme in the late Eighties and much of the Nineties.

During the new term in the Seanad, I will be pushing forward my Private Member’s Bill, The Human Body Organs and Tissues Bill. It is a scandal that people on waiting lists for organs to continue to die unnecessarily in Ireland.

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 worldwide, saving many lives each year. For instance, Belgium introduced Presumed Consent in 1986 and organ donation rose by 55% in just five years.

We have to use the Seanad to agitate for the cutting of red tape and unnecessary bureaucracy. As a senator, I will support measures to reduce costs for business and to cut out some regulations so that employers can recruit more easily. For instance, we have to fundamentally re-examine our obsolete bankruptcy laws to encourage entrepreneurs to start again.

In the way that Senator Crown will push forward health issues, I will bring my experience of business and job creation to the Seanad. My own particular experience is in the retail sector, which is the largest employer in Ireland, providing over 240,000 jobs. I will do my utmost to protect existing jobs, something that is so often forgotten by politicians in the major political parties.

As an independent Senator free from party ties, I initiated the Construction Contracts Bill, which was passed in the Seanad last month. This Bill 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. As a re-elected Senator, I will have the responsibility to ensure that this vital Bill is passed through the Dáil as a matter of urgency.

And, yes, an independent senator can achieve that. The Fine Gael-led coalition did not have a majority in the 1995-’97 and, to get legislation passed, the Government had to convince at least two independent senators to support it. It was a very successful Government!

I, along with the other senators who have been given mandates, can make a real difference. We will not linger on local parish-pump politics but act on issues of national interest – like health, business and job creation – at this vital time for our country.

We are not just a talking shop. Very often, we also get to bare our teeth.

This Article was originall published in the Irish Mail on Sunday.