Seanad debates

Wednesday, 29 January 2014

1:15 pm

Photo of John CrownJohn Crown (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I second the motion. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Kehoe, to the House.

It is in truth a given that there is a prevalent cynicism about democracy and an increasing scepticism about its potential for reform and self improvement. Many citizens are totally alienated from the democratic process, believing that a self-perpetuating system populated by self-serving people neither reflects their wishes and values nor particularly acts in their interest. I do not make this up; it is what people think. People feel disconnected from and unable to change many of the realities of public governance in Ireland.

At the time of the Seanad abolition referendum, as was pointed out by my friend and colleague, Senator Zappone, the charges were laid that the Seanad was elitist, ineffective and wasteful. We got a message from the people. They rejected something when they said “No” to the proposal that the Seanad should be abolished. Two interpretations are that they rejected the Government’s analysis that the Seanad was wasteful, ineffective and elitist and in fact liked it the way it was and wished it to remain in the status quo. I have met no one who thought that, espoused that, canvassed for it or advocated it. In any of my personal canvasses during the Seanad referendum or in any of my discourses and debates with others, the message loud and clear in every forum was reform, reform, reform. The platforms of both sides acknowledged the inadequacies of the Seanad and the platform of the side which ultimately prevailed contained a consistent message of reform. In short, a thumping mandate for reform of the Seanad was given by the referendum. In fact, as the Minister of State, Deputy Kehoe, is aware and as Senator Zappone has pointed out, two different reform Bills were offered before the House prior to the referendum. They were broadly similar with nuanced differences but they both adhered to two principles. The first was the fundamental democratic value of universal suffrage. The second was living within the constraints imposed on us by Bunreacht na hÉireann. In other words, that was the maximum reform which could be achieved in the absence of further constitutional amendment. What we are instead hearing is that we will have long overdue legislative implementation of the Seventh Amendment of the Constitution, passed in popular referendum in 1979 – all of 35 years ago. Let us put a little perspective on 35 years ago. Jimmy Carter was the President of the United States.

The Shah had not yet left Iran, the USSR still existed and had not yet invaded Afghanistan. Two senior parliamentarians at the time were Enda Kenny and Terry Leyden, both of whom remain in Leinster House 35 years later and we are very grateful to them for their long service to the people. Why is it only now, after a referendum was rejected, that this legislation is being offered? Is it any wonder that people are disillusioned with the lack of answerability of the political process here? The contempt for the popular will - expressed in a referendum - exhibited by all of the major parties in the intervening 35 years is Marie Antoinette-like in its disdain. It is as if the Government is saying, "Let them eat cake" but the trouble is, the cake is 35 years old.

What objections have been raised to true Seanad reform? There are two principle objections, the first being that we would be left with some kind of science fiction, mutant, pseudo-replica Dáil and the second, we would have gridlock. I will deal with those in a moment but before answering those charges, let us look at the widely acknowledged need for important, fundamental political reform and Dáil reform in particular. The current problems with Dáil Éireann, from an outsider's perspective, are as follows: it is exclusively parochial in its selection; it is, unfortunately, somewhat ineffective in its procedures because of an imbalance of power between a strong, central Executive and relatively disenfranchised individual Deputies; and that the potential input of talented Deputies from the backbenches is thwarted by them being whipped to within an inch of their lives. These are the problems. We cannot fix all of them but if we did have the kind of reformed Seanad that has been espoused through two stages of votes in this House and which I believe has been given a mandate by the people in the referendum, we would have two very differently functioning Houses.

The Dáil needs to reform itself. There is probably a need for constitutional change to reform some of the procedures in the Dáil. Some of these issues have been discussed by the Constitutional Convention, from which all questions of Seanad reform were, in my opinion, inappropriately excluded. In the Seanad, as Senator Zappone has said, we would have a very different Chamber. We would not have people who were looking over their shoulder at a local political constituency in their local area. We would have people who were elected through national mandates and who, through clever nomination processes, would be disproportionately associated with the areas of expertise which the Constitution has suggested they would be.

A wise Government, troubled by the increasing popular scepticism concerning politics would, in response to the palpable hunger for reform, introduce true reform of the Seanad and the Dáil. Instead, for the second time in a few months, we are being offered a pretence at reform and are being sold a pup. It is important that we take the message from the people. There is a real hunger for political reform in this country and it would be an awful shame to ignore it. It was not a wallop, it was a mandate. If the historical opportunity afforded to this Government by the people in the context of the Seanad referendum were ignored, that would be an awful shame.

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