Dáil debates

Thursday, 16 October 2014

Seanad Reform: Motion [Private Members]

 

2:40 pm

Photo of Tom BarryTom Barry (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak to the motion. The Seanad has an important role to play. There have been issues in the past but the Taoiseach got very little recognition for his appointees. They made up their own minds and refused to vote with the Government on a number of issues. It is unfair to criticise him when he is trying to make a difference. The referendum has opened up discussion on the Seanad. We had to find out whether the people wanted it.

It was an astonishing result in a lot of ways because in a time of economic woe people asserted their faith in the political system. It put a great deal of responsibility on our shoulders. How do we do it? We need to have a proper discussion. Today's discussions quite interesting. While all third level people should be included, where does it stop? There are third levels across all areas of society. Do we include people who go to agricultural colleges? We need to discuss this.

The Seanad should act as a reservoir of talent. There are many people in the country who have a great deal to contribute in their particular areas, but we must have a reasoned debate. We must debate it among ourselves to establish clarity before opening it to a wider audience. A balanced talent pool representing the many sectors that are out there today is important. We are living in a different Ireland from the one in which the Seanad was established. There are now SME groupings, agricultural groupings, tourism groupings, health groupings and information technology groupings. We need to figure out what we want to have there. Is it better to have a reservoir of talent inside the House rather than go to consultants who may have ulterior motives in their advice? Of course we need a gender balance, but we also need a youth and an elderly balance. Those people also have unique insights into Irish life.

I have always found the sitting hours strange and we need to look at them. There are people who would gladly contribute to the Seanad but cannot because they are running a business or have a family. We must see if there is a way to accommodate these people to access their expertise and their vision of where we should be going. The election of people to the Seanad is open to discussion. However, we need to know what we want to achieve here. It is no good to stand up and criticise all of the wrongs; we must discuss ways to create an institution that is reformed, that works and that is seen to be working. A reformed Seanad could certainly deliver a lot of success for us. It is more difficult to answer the question of how to get there than it is to criticise what is not working at the moment. That is the challenge and it is one I look forward to debating with everyone here. If we get to a point at which we have reformed the Seanad successfully, it will be a credit to everybody in the House.

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