Seanad debates

Wednesday, 20 June 2012

3:00 pm

Photo of Averil PowerAveril Power (Fianna Fail)

I join colleagues in supporting the call for the constitutional convention to be given the opportunity to discuss real political reform. I do not see how it can in any meaningful sense discuss electoral reform for the other House without looking at how it fits into the overall picture from local government to national Parliament to this House. All three need to be examined together if there is to be any meaningful review of how the political system works. Senator Mac Conghail pointed out that the convention is well suited to do that because there will be 66 citizens on it. It is extraordinary that the Government does not want to give such a reflective and deliberative group the opportunity to consider all the issues and develop proposals which at the end of the day will be put to the people.

In general, in respect of the constitutional convention I am disappointed at the brief it has been given because it is a good idea but it has been somewhat trivialised by the issues that the Government has said it will put before it. Senator Norris spoke about the presidential selection system. I agree this is infinitely more important than discussing whether the term of the Presidency should go from seven to five years. Neither should a discussion on the voting age should take months. As a strong advocate of marriage equality that is an issue on which political leaders should take leadership. It is extraordinary that the Taoiseach seems to be one of the last leaders in Europe, and in the western world now that President Obama has made his position clear, who will not say where he stands on the issue or if he has a personal view. Instead of trying to deflect it to the constitutional convention the Taoiseach could say where he stands. My party passed a motion at our recent Ard-Fheis supporting marriage equality, and I will support it whenever the referendum is held. It is an issue on which people should take leadership, and it is not necessary for it to be debated in the constitutional convention. It should be put to the people.

I agree with previous speakers that there are weaknesses in respect of this House. The Seanad often makes a far greater contribution than is appreciated. Generally, the debates here are more reflective and less partisan and as previous speakers pointed out, over the years both Senator Quinn and Senator Norris brought forward Bills that passed through this House and made a contribution. However, there are significant flaws that must be addressed such as the lack of popular legitimacy to this House, which undermines the work we do regardless of how hard we work and what we achieve. The House does not have adequate powers. More important, the composition of the House is not sufficiently distinct.

I agree with Senator Mullen in respect of a list system. If we had a Seanad that was elected on a national list we would end up with a distinct group of parliamentarians here that would be very different from the constituency focus that is in the Dáil. We would also get far better representation for minorities. If we had 50 seats, for example, the quota for each one would be only 2% and we would end up with a genuinely vocational representation because people would run on national issues and we would have representatives of the Traveller community and our immigrant communities and therefore a much more diverse Parliament. A second House would add enormously to Irish democracy and it is regrettable that the constitutional convention will not be given the opportunity to examine those issues.

As Senator Quinn pointed out at the outset, this is not a debate on the future of the Seanad, and Government representatives have not been asked to take a side on that issue. They are being asked to consider that the constitutional convention would be given the opportunity to discuss these issues and that when the people vote on the future of the House, they are given real options for reform on which they can decide. That is all that is being asked of the Government representatives. I express the same regret as others that there have not been more contributions from the Government side because I would have liked that engagement and to hear what Members on the opposite side of the House feel about this issue.

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