Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

This House is notoriously known for cronyism. I know because I was elected in 2014 and I believe I was one of the first people to break the pattern of cronyism in this House. Members might recall that my election hit all the headlines at the time. The Government wanted to put in one of its favoured sons and at the end of the day it failed to do that. What is wrong with democracy? Many Members of this House will put themselves before the public in the coming weeks and months seeking to be elected, and they will do that by way of secret ballot. Nobody in this House is afraid of a secret ballot, so why are they afraid of a secret ballot to elect a Cathaoirleach? What is the problem? One of my colleagues referred to the reform as piecemeal. Maybe the reform of the university seats was piecemeal, but it is going to happen. What would be wrong with putting a Cathaoirleach forward by secret ballot? I have no difficulty with any of the Cathaoirligh I served under over the past ten years. Every one of them did a fine job. However, I suggest to my colleagues on the Government side that what has them spooked is what happened with the Leas-Cheann Comhairle in the Dáil. They saw that democracy can work and they do not want that to happen.

We have got to make this House relevant. In the past two years in this House, they have usurped democracy at every turn. Guillotines have been used time and again. They have rammed all sections and Stages of legislation through in a couple of hours in one afternoon. It is time that all Senators stood up for the democracy we are supposed to believe in. That democracy is underpinned by a secret ballot. The people who elect us, elect us by secret ballot. At the end of the day, we can walk out of here and tell the public that we are afraid of democracy, and of a secret ballot in this House. Why would you do that? Senator McDowell is 100% correct. At the end of the day, when the next Seanad is elected there will be a significant Government majority, and that majority will just instruct its members to elect whoever it chooses. That is wrong in every sense of the word. We should never have a situation like that. I have spent my life believing that nobody should ever be gifted a seat. They should fight for it, and if they win it, good and well. The idea of somebody in a party room somewhere deciding that A, B or C will be the Cathaoirleach the next time around is just repugnant to democracy and everything democracy stands for.

As I say, the Cathaoirligh we have had have been useful, and Senator Higgins is correct. During the last election, at least there was a battle within the parties themselves for the role of Cathaoirleach and Leas-Chathaoirleach. It was quite obvious at the time that it was a heated battle. The people who ran are to be commended because they put themselves before the electorate, but we again had an open vote and that was just wrong. It should have been a secret ballot. If we had a secret ballot, we might have finished up with a situation similar to what happened in the Dáil. We might have had somebody elected whom we did not expect. A number of those sitting here are going to put themselves in front of the public in the next couple of weeks. They should please go out to the public and tell them they are not afraid of a secret ballot. They should tell the public they respect democracy every step of the way. They should tell the public that this House is relevant and that having an independent Cathaoirleach elected by secret ballot is not something they are afraid of. None of them should be afraid of that.

I do not know how many reports there were before Manning, but I understand there was a number of them. Kicking this to touch like the Manning report demeans us and the House. It is part of what has the public looking at us and saying we are a shower of cronies in here, referring to us as members of a nursing home or of a crèche depending on whether we are young and up and coming politicians or elderly and on our way out, or in the departure lounge as some might say. I ask the Members to please not oppose this, to show themselves to be democrats and stop adhering to a Whip from people who do not sit in this House. I ask them to do that, and if it is pushed to a vote, then it will be pushed to a vote. However, all of this will be on social media before the night is out.