Seanad debates

Tuesday, 11 December 2012

90th Anniversary of Seanad Éireann: Statements

 

1:30 pm

Photo of Paddy BurkePaddy Burke (Fine Gael)
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Today is an important milestone in the history of this Chamber and of this Parliament. It marks the 90th anniversary of the establishment of the 1922 Seanad.

The first Seanad consisted of a mixture of Members appointed by the President of the Executive Council and Members indirectly elected by the Dáil. The appointments system was designed to provide representation for minorities or interests not adequately represented by the Dáil, in effect giving a voice to Unionist representatives and people of specialist knowledge and experience or with a record of public service. Among those who sat in this Chamber were William Butler Yeats, Oliver St. John Gogarty, Sir Horace Plunkett, Jenny Wyse Power, Douglas Hyde and Alice Stopford Green.

Since its inception, the Seanad recorded a remarkable record of initiating and amending legislation, with notable and inspiring contributions and an impressive level of debate.

The modern Seanad Éireann was established by the Constitution of Ireland in 1937. The new Seanad Éireann is comprised of 60 Members, 43 elected by five panels representing vocational interests, namely: culture and education; agriculture; labour; industry and commerce; and public administration. Six Senators are elected by the graduates of two universities, three each from the National University of Ireland and the University of Dublin, Trinity College. Eleven Senators are nominated by the Taoiseach.

The spirit and intent of the Seanad to represent minorities and provide a platform to those with specialist experience and to contribute to a healthy and robust democracy carried through to the new Seanad. In the past, Taoisigh have used their nominations to appoint respected people from Northern Ireland, such as the late peace campaigner, Gordon Wilson, and Seamus Mallon of the Social Democratic and Labour Party. Benjamin Guinness, Lord Iveagh, sat as a Taoiseach's nominated Senator from 1973 to 1977 while he was also a Member of the House of Lords.

Today, Seanad Éireann is playing a greater and more effective role in our parliamentary democracy. This newly-elected Seanad is determined to modernise its procedures and actively engage with civic society. To begin this process, we have changed Standing Orders to allow persons and representatives of public and civil life to address Seanad Éireann. Among those to address the Seanad under the new rules were: Drew Nelson, grand secretary of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland; Mary Robinson, former Senator, President of Ireland and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights; and Maurice Manning, president of the Irish Human Rights Commission and chair of the European Group of National Human Rights Institutions.

The Seanad Public Consultation Committee, which was established as part of the new procedures to open access to Seanad Éireann and its work, is to specify and publicise areas related to the legislative powers of the Seanad and issues of public policy and to invite submissions from public interest groups. It provides a powerful opportunity to strengthen dialogue between the Seanad and the public. It is also a very public forum for debate and discussion on a wide range of subjects in the area of public policy. To date, the Seanad Public Consultation Committee has published a report calling for wide-ranging amendments to existing legislation to bolster the rights of older people and has sought submissions from interested groups or individuals on how government and society can respond to the challenge of preventing cancer through healthy diet, physical activity and weight management.

These new rules allow for a vibrant and effective Seanad where we can learn about and increase our understanding of the major issues facing our people. The changes will enable us, as parliamentarians, to provide a real and valuable input into initiatives to meet the key challenges and concerns facing our society today.

Photo of Maurice CumminsMaurice Cummins (Fine Gael)
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A Chathaoirligh, today we mark the 90th anniversary of the inaugural meeting of Seanad Éireann which took place on 11 December 1922. That year represented a time when the process of building the Irish State had only just begun. Some 90 years later, the 24th Seanad sits at a time when our nation faces another battle, to retrieve its economic and political sovereignty.

I sincerely hope that as we approach the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising and the 1922 establishment of the Irish Free State we will have retrieved that sovereignty and re-identified with the values that define us as a people and can on those anniversaries celebrate a true Republic.

That is what we owe the generations before us who dedicated themselves to the pursuit of Irish independence and created the architecture of our modern Irish State. The right to control our own affairs and to decide our own destiny has been the wish for generations of our ancestors. We owe to them and future generations a better body politic, one that places the national interest before that of any one individual or interest group. In this context, I believe the members of Seanad Éireann can play a central role.

One of the most outstanding members in the early years of Seanad Éireann was Senator William Butler Yeats. Despite an overwhelmingly Catholic membership, Yeats and his future independent colleagues achieved great things. He chaired the coinage committee that was charged with selecting a set of designs for the first coinage for the Irish Free State. A year after his term in the first Seanad he was to become the first Irishman to be awarded the Nobel Prize in literature. The Nobel committee described Yeats?s work as "inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation." He also contributed to a number of debates, including speaking against the proposed anti-divorce legislation in 1925. Yeats was very much a character that resembles the true value of the Seanad as a Chamber that can give the voiceless a voice, the invisible a presence and the status quo a challenger.

Many other great public representatives and patriots have also served in this Chamber. I recall the late Dr. Garret FitzGerald, a man whose honesty, extraordinary commitment and love for Ireland and its people has remained a benchmark for all public representatives. Other colleagues of ours, including former President, Mary Robinson, have championed the cause of minorities when others were not prepared to listen. Those barriers did not stop Mary Robinson?s efforts; in fact they encouraged her further to achieve true greatness in the areas of human rights and social issues. Last week, we paid tribute to former Senator Trevor West, who played a vital, if low key, role in the early days of the peace process in Northern Ireland. There are countless other examples of Senators who have gone on to achieve marvellous things both at home and abroad. It is fitting that, on this day, we remember their extraordinary service to our country.

It remains the Government?s intention to hold a referendum on the future of Seanad Éireann. Ultimately, the people of Ireland will decide its fate. Regardless of the outcome of this referendum, this Seanad can serve as the most productive and effective one yet but that can only be achieved if we as a group do it ourselves. That requires Members to respect the true purpose of this Parliament, to scrutinise legislation, to represent minorities and to uphold at all times the national interest. It also requires Members to turn up for debates with members of the Government and contribute to them. This is a most challenging time for our country in its 90-year history and the public are looking to both Houses of the Oireachtas for solutions, however daring and bold they may be.

There is much good to be said of the valuable contribution made by the Seanad that is too often forgotten by the commentariat. Initiatives such as the public consultation committee, which strives to strengthen the dialogue between the Seanad and public on a range of policy issues, have been well received. The adoption by Government of a number of Seanad Private Members' Bills and its receptive response to many others shows we can make an effective contribution. Time and time again Ministers and Ministers of State have expressed to me their satisfaction with the quality of debate in the House when discussing legislation and they have demonstrated a willingness take on board relevant legislative amendments where possible.

As part of the Seanad's programme for the Irish Presidency of the EU which takes place during the first half of next year, I have invited all Irish MEPs to address the House throughout the six-month Presidency. I hope this new initiative will bring the work of the Seanad and that of the European Parliament much closer.

We have achieved cross-party agreement on a number of motions of interest to members and I hope this is something on which we can build.

The 24th Seanad has led the way on many issues. I want to improve upon that because the House has far more to offer than it is given credit for by some people. I hope the future will bring greater peace, prosperity and success to our great country and the world. The reformed Seanad can play a role in achieving those ideals in an ever changing Ireland.

1:45 pm

Photo of Darragh O'BrienDarragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail)
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Ar dtús, is mór an onóir dom a bheith anseo mar cheannaire Fhianna Fáil sa Seanad, le labhairt ar an cheiliúradh speisialta seo. As leader of the Fianna Fáil group I am honoured to speak on behalf of my party on the 90th anniversary of the House to mark its contribution to the State. I fear many of our colleagues will mention the same names of some auspicious previous Members. It is important to note their contribution in the House.

Some 90 years ago when the Seanad was first established its purpose was to include Upper House representatives from minorities or interests not represented adequately in the Dáil, as the distinguished historian and former Senator, John A. Murphy, put it, this meant not only Protestant or Unionist representatives but people of specialist knowledge and experience or with a record of public service. We can thank the first Seanad on how it enabled the minority communities in what was then the Irish Free State to become part of our political and democratic process here. The importance of what happened by way of allowing the southern Unionist representation, in particular, southern Protestant and Presbyterian and other minorities, such as the Jewish faith, proper representation in the Upper House was crucially important. Many new European countries as they were then, failed in this respect at the first hurdle. The first Seanad which played a crucial role that has not been properly teased out or given the credit due, was forward thinking. I am proud to say that the first Seanad achieved the same. Its membership was made up not only of Roman Catholics but Protestants and Jews and included many Unionists, several peers, a former British army general, artists, writers and republicans. It was as diverse a body as might be imagined in the period after the establishment of the new State. All its members were united by their desire and willingness to serve Ireland.

The list of Members of the Seanad reflects the breadth of talent who took up the challenge. The first Cathaoirleach of the Seanad was Lord Glenavy, former Unionist MP and Lord Chancellor of Ireland, who was overwhelmingly elected as Chair of the House by his fellow Members, an act which set a pattern of bipartisanship, co-operation and collegiality that distinguishes the House to this day, most of the time. We will wait for the Social Welfare Bill next week. His fellow Members included the Nobel laureate, as the Cathaoirleach and the Leader of the House have covered, William Butler Yeats, one of the greatest writers the country has ever produce, Horace Plunkett, pioneer of the co-operative movement in Ireland, Jane Wyse Power, the activist, feminist and business woman, the historian, as the Leader said, Alice Stopford Green, and the surgeon and poet, Oliver St. John Gogarty. Another previous notable Member was Douglas Hyde, the founder of the Gaelic League and first President of Ireland. He deserves a special mention as being a Member of the first Seanad.

Recently we have faced calls for the abolition of the House. While I will not discuss the specifics of the merits of that I draw attention to the fact that these calls are not new. Indeed, the founder of my party, Éamon De Valera, in 1928, called for an end to what he called the costly Seanad for it served no useful function. It would appear that even he recognised the need for an Upper House and proceeded to draw up plans for a new Seanad, the result of which our Members see today.

Each and every Seanad since 1937 - we have another commemoration tomorrow in regard to the Constitution - has had its fair share of distinguished Members, including another President of Ireland, as mentioned, Mary Robinson, and former Taoiseach, Garret FitzGerald. As with the first Seanad, it also included people with specialist knowledge.

The Hon Lady Valerie Goulding, Noel Browne and Robert Malachy Burke were all Members. Benjamin Guinness, the third Earl of Iveagh, held the distinction of being a Member of two Upper Houses at the same time - the Seanad and the House of Lords. I single out two current Members, Senators Norris and Quinn, who would rightly form part of that role of honour of Members over the past 90 years.

1:50 pm

Photo of Paul CoghlanPaul Coghlan (Fine Gael)
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Hear, hear.

Photo of Darragh O'BrienDarragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail)
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Another aspect of more recent Seanaid has been the appointment of people involved in the Northern Ireland peace process by successive taoisigh. I think of Members such as Seamus Mallon, Bríd Rogers and Gordon Wilson. Perhaps this is a practice that should be re-established because I have no doubt that we will have future Seanaid and that Seanad Éireann will survive.

The reformed Seanad after 1937, with the same abiding principles as the First Seanad, sought to provide a place for independent voices to discuss and debate, to propose and amend, to support and criticise legislation brought to this House or, as is often the case, legislation originating in this House. It is not reported that more than 30% of all legislation initiated in the Oireachtas has started here in successive Seanaid, mostly in the spirit of bipartisanship, collegiality and co-operation. A former critic of this House, Michael McDowell, stated that these principles and this spirit made the Seanad an institution worth keeping. His experience as Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, informed his statement that "the better legislative work by far was done in the Seanad". He went on to state: "I also found that the practice of initiating major reforming legislation in the Seanad and then bringing it to the Dáil frequently had the effect of defusing the adversarial atmosphere in the Dáil because many of the more contentious issues had either been explained or resolved in an amicable way in the Seanad."

I have served in both Houses - I served in the previous Dáil and am now honoured to serve here on the Seanad's 90th anniversary. Oireachtas reform will not be achieved through abolition. Parliamentary reform should encompass all aspects and all pillars of the Oireachtas, including the Executive, the Dáil, Seanad and the President. Singling out the Seanad as only area in which reform should happen will not solve that problem. That will be a debate for another day. It is never too late for any Government to look back and see the merit of that argument. If we had a referendum on the Dáil, I have a feeling it would also be abolished.

I commend the Cathaoirleach and the Leader, specifically, along with the group leaders and other colleagues, on the many changes that have been initiated in this House in the past 18 or 19 months. They were very important changes, as the Leader, Senator Maurice Hayes, mentioned. There is certainly more we can do-----

Photo of Ivana BacikIvana Bacik (Independent)
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A Freudian slip.

Photo of Darragh O'BrienDarragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail)
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I apologise, I meant Senator Maurice Cummins; I was thinking about a previous Senator. That is for another day and when the Leader starts writing for the Irish Independent.

Today is an important commemoration for us at a time when we look back on people who have served their country very well. This democracy would not be best served by not having a Seanad Chamber. We can do more and I know the Leader and Cathaoirleach are very open to doing this. Ireland assuming the Presidency of the European Union represents an opportunity for us to move forward with scrutinising EU legislation in this House. We have the wherewithal, the experience and the breadth of knowledge. More than 90% of the legislation affecting the country originates in Europe. What better place to pick through the positives and negatives of these proposals than Seanad Éireann.

Photo of Ivana BacikIvana Bacik (Independent)
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I am delighted and honoured to speak for the Labour group on the 90th anniversary of Seanad Éireann, the 90th anniversary of the inaugural meeting of Free State Seanad on 11 December 1922. I am honoured not only as a Labour Senator, but also as a university Senator, because the university Senators have had a very proud tradition in this House. Many of the Senators, named by colleagues earlier, represented the universities.

As we look back, all of us are also conscious that we also look forward to a likely referendum on the future of the Seanad. However, as we look back over the history of the last 90 years, it is striking that a debate on abolition or retention has been ongoing throughout the lifetime of the Seanad.

I am indebted to a colleague, a senior counsel and Fianna Fáil councillor, Jim O'Callaghan, who has done extensive research on the first Seanad and wrote that a form of senate was referred to in all three of the Home Rule Bills dating back to 1886. Before the Free State Seanad was constituted, proposals were in place which varied widely. The first Home Rule Bill provided for 103 representatives in an upper house, of whom 28 would be peers, and who would serve for ten years. The Government of Ireland Act 1920 provided for a slimmed down version of 64 senators designed to ensure representation and protection for Southern Unionists in the new state. The Free State Seanad, which was finally constituted in 1922, was made up of 60 Members under Article 12 of the 1922 Constitution, and 30 of those were nominated by the President of the Executive Council, Mr. W.T. Cosgrave, who appointed what was referred to as a distinguished and talented group representative of all classes, as The New York Timesremarked at the time.

I am also indebted to Dr. Elaine Byrne who wrote a wonderful article on the 60th anniversary of the current Seanad in July 2008 in which she spoke of the first Seanad as constituting seven peers, a dowager countess, five baronets and several knights, and that the Seanad consisted of 36 Catholics, 20 Protestants, three Quakers and one Jew. Mr. Cosgrave's nominees numbered 16 Southern Unionists. It was a truly diverse group, and yet was youthful and important in the life of the first Government. The 1922 Government, as Dr. Byrne has written, had no practical experience of parliamentary life. The young Ministers relied enormously on the Seanad, along with the Civil Service and the Army, because the Seanad influenced the guiding principles and legislative foundations of the State, representing, as it did, more of an establishment culture.

It is also interesting to note that those first Senators were subject to serious intimidation and threats. In the light of what is happening in Northern Ireland at this time, it is particularly poignant to read that by the end of March 1922, as a result of anti-treaty opposition to the Seanad, 37 Senators' homes had been burnt to the ground and Mr. Cosgrave's home was scorched. There was a good deal of intimidation of the early Seanad.

Fianna Fáil opposed the Seanad in advance proposals in 1932 before it came to power, and it was in its election manifesto for the 1932 general election. As O'Callaghan writes, they promised to abolish the Seanad.

2:00 pm

Photo of Darragh O'BrienDarragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail)
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Senator Bacik never misses an opportunity.

Photo of Ivana BacikIvana Bacik (Independent)
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The Seanad abolition Bill was not put to the Dáil until the day after the Seanad had voted down a Government Bill to restrict the wearing of uniforms in light of the Blueshirts threat. There is an interesting history to the first Seanad abolition Bill.

The reason I mention all of this is because, in March and April 1934, there was a fascinating series of debates in both Houses on the idea of a bicameral system that also has significant resonance today. Persons such as the late President Eamon de Valera, were critical of that Seanad or second Chamber, but once the Bill had been passed, the Bill having been supported by the Labour Party, with the late Deputy William Norton referring to that first Seanad as a rubber stamp, and the Seanad abolished, popular opinion changed over the course of the following two years. By 1938, following the enactment of the 1937 Constitution, a new Seanad was set up. This was the current Seanad as we know it, with 60 Senators elected and nominated in the way the Leader described.

This new Seanad was a reformed version of a second House. It is interesting that, during the course of the period of the debates in the Dáil and Seanad in 1934, there was a growing recognition of the need for a bicameral system. This was accepted even by those who were highly critical of the constitution of the first Seanad. The commission that was set up following the 1936 vote agreed that there should be a second House in the new Constitution, that is, the House we have currently.

As other Senators have said, it is a House that we need to reform. We have carried out some important reforms internally, but we also must acknowledge the contribution the Seanad has made over many years. Senators have referred to the number of Bills that have been put through. Today, more than 100 amendments are likely to be tabled for Report Stage of the Personal Insolvency Bill. There is a good tradition of commencing Bills and of tabling amendments in this House. There is also a good tradition of introducing Private Members' Bills. We saw one last week on humanist weddings that had started life in this House as a Private Members' Bill.

Over the 90 years of the Seanad's history there has been this ongoing debate on whether to retain the Seanad. This debate will be emphasised further in 2013 as we face into the referendum. It would be worth acknowledging the history and contribution of the Seanad.

A practical way of doing this, which Dr. Byrne suggested four years ago, would be to put the Seanad casket and signatures on permanent public display. I believe they are still in the Royal Irish Academy. The casket was on display on the Cathaoirleach's desk in the Chamber from 1924 to 1936. It has a vellum manuscript with fountain pen signatures of the first 60 Senators. I believe I am correct to state it has not yet been moved from the Royal Irish Academy. Perhaps it is something we could consider doing in recognition of the long, lively and far from smooth history of the Seanad. As we face into debates we might do well to remember the Seanad has faced up robustly to these challenges in the past and may well do so in the future.

2:10 pm

Photo of Jillian van TurnhoutJillian van Turnhout (Independent)
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I am honoured to speak on behalf of the Taoiseach's nominees. In preparing for today I spent the past week reflecting and reading through the history of the Seanad, as it appears my colleagues also did, and in particular I looked at its earlier days. My colleagues know I have a keen interest in family history, and through my research on my family I learned the necklace I am wearing today was given by my grandfather to his sister on her wedding day in the 1920s. I wonder what were their thoughts about the newly founded Seanad on that day in County Clare. My family history includes some amazing strong women, and as I wear my great-aunt's necklace, I wonder whether the first women of the Seanad gave her inspiration.

The women nominated to the 1922 to 1937 Free State Seanad were highly gifted and made significant contributions to the political, economic and cultural spheres of Ireland. Notably these women were committed to gender equality during a period in which legislative changes ensured women?s rights were further weakened. Jenny Wyse Power had been active in the Ladies' Land League and local government, and also ran various businesses. Ellen Odette Cuffe, Countess of Desart, was a London-based Jewish woman who had founded a woollen mill, a theatre and a hospital in Kilkenny. She was also a keen supporter of the Irish language. Alice Stopford Green was a noted historian. Eileen Costello was a London-based teacher who moved to Galway and had a keen interest in Irish folklore. Elected in 1928, Kathleen Clarke was a well-known nationalist who opposed the wording of Bunreacht na hÉireann as she believed it placed women in a lower position than the Proclamation of 1916. Kathleen Browne, a member of Cumann na nGaedheal, joined the Seanad through a by-election in 1929.

Despite their political differences, these women often worked together to promote women?s issues. The Civil Service Regulation (Amendment) Bill 1925, which sought to confine State examinations for senior Civil Service posts to men, was strongly opposed by Senators Wyse Power and Costello. Additionally, Senator Wyse Power, who had worked in the republican courts established during the War of Independence, was staunch in her opposition to the Juries Act 1927 which barred women from jury service in the new state. Many of the women Senators supported the Illegitimate Children (Affiliation Orders) Bill 1929, which was introduced to improve the status of unmarried mothers by providing the mother with the right to financial maintenance from the child?s father. Senator Clarke opposed a ban on contraceptives in 1934, arguing it would drive the issue of birth control underground. Radically for the time, Senator Clarke also called for solidarity from the trade union movement on the issue of equal pay in 1935.

A number of women elected over the years to the post-1937 Seanad, such as Mary Robinson and Gemma Hussey, began their political careers campaigning actively for women?s issues. Once elected, they worked hard to ensure women?s rights were placed on the agenda of the House. The then Senator Robinson, despite being subject to personal hate mail and high levels of suspicion from a number of colleagues, introduced a Bill in 1973 to make contraceptives legal in the Republic. Meanwhile, Senator Hussey attempted to introduce legislation on rape, sponsoring the Sexual Offences Bill 1980, which lapsed on First Stage. A former Judge of the Supreme Court, Catherine McGuinness, who was first elected to the Seanad in 1979, argued for the rights of the individual throughout her legislative and judicial career. These women, and others, made improving the lives of ordinary women central to their work as Senators, and are just three examples of the high level of female talent which has emerged from the Upper House.

I was interested to note that between 1937 and 2007, no Taoiseach nominated more than four women. This was broken in 2011 when the Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, included seven women among his 11 nominees.

This ensured the new Seanad was 30% female, a record high in women's political representation in the Houses of the Oireachtas. As one examines the transcripts and history of the House, it is clear that women Senators have made contributions to the Upper House and to Houses of the Oireachtas well beyond their paltry numbers.

The 90th anniversary has given me an opportunity to reflect on our history and to draw inspiration. I feel very privileged to be a member of Seanad Éireann. As I reflect today, and especially looking at my colleagues in my Independent group and admire the work that they have done outside and inside the House, I think that each one of us has an opportunity to reflect and decide what will be the legacy of our work. Will we be willing to use our voices, our role and our powers to make a positive difference to the lives of the people of Ireland?

2:20 pm

Photo of Paddy BurkePaddy Burke (Fine Gael)
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I call the Leader to move an amendment to the Order of Business.

Photo of Maurice CumminsMaurice Cummins (Fine Gael)
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I amend the Order of Business to allow this item of business to conclude at 1.55 p.m

Photo of Paddy BurkePaddy Burke (Fine Gael)
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Is that agreed? Agreed.

Photo of Sean BarrettSean Barrett (Independent)
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I thank the Cathaoirleach and the Leader for their inspiring speeches on the topic. When Lord Midleton, Dr. John Henry Bernard, then provost of Trinity College, and Mr. Andrew Jameson met Arthur Griffith in London on 16 November 1921 and communicated with the then President of the Dáil, Eamon de Valera, they set in train a remarkable body, and it is fitting that we celebrate its 90th birthday today.

One of the first things the Seanad did was rename an institution that is known everywhere in the country. An amendment was introduced and passed by the Seanad which changed the name of the Civic Guards to An Garda Síochána, which is the title it has been known by ever since. The early relationship between the Government, the Dáil and the Seanad was described by Donal O'Sullivan as imperfect sympathy. By 9 August 1923, Mr. Cosgrave came to the House to express his deep appreciation, and that of his colleagues, for the co-operation and assistance given by the second Chamber to him and for its useful and constructive criticism given on the legislative proposals of the Ministry. I hope that on 9 August 2013, the Taoiseach will come to the House to tell us how much he appreciates what Senators have done. That is the spirit in which we operate and is why we are here.

Mrs. Alice Stopford Green said, when presenting the casket on which Senator Bacik commented:

We shall learn the ties which did in fact ever bind the dwellers in Ireland together. Whether we are of an ancient Irish descent, or of later Irish birth, we are united in one people, and we are bound by one lofty obligation to complete the building of our common nation.
Of course, as the Leader has said, that includes in the past two years in particular, the necessity to question and seek checks and balances to be created in institutions which have failed the country and which have caused the loss of our economic sovereignty. Let me think of famous names. President Michael D. Higgins was nominated to be a Member of this House by the then Taoiseach, Liam Cosgrave, and he has had a stellar political career ever since.

With regard to the present day, we shall discuss the Personal Insolvency Bill. It was amended 181 times on Committee Stage and the relevant Minister has taken another 155 amendments tabled in this House. Therefore, 336 examples exist of changes made by the House to major legislation that seeks to change insolvency from bankruptcy to a conciliatory process. That is not a unique occurrence in the past year. As many Ministers have referred to, and as the Leader has said, there have been constructive debates in this House. It is a pity sometimes that the advisers to the Ministers, who sit behind them, pass on notes telling them not to accept what we say. I hope that junior people in the Civil Service will be more open to our amendments than some of their seniors. It is a pleasure to see how willing Ministers are to listen to what we say here and that they appreciate the quality of our debates.

What present should the Seanad receive for its 90th birthday? I think the answer is: "Many happy returns."

Photo of Trevor Ó ClochartaighTrevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)
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Mar ionadaí do cheannaire Shinn Féin sa Seanad, is mór an onóir dom cur leis na ráitisí ar comóradh 90 bliain bunú an Teach ársa seo.

Táim an-aireach faoi chuid de na taibhsí atá sa Teach ón am sin, agus cuid mhaith acu linn, b'fheidir, leis an gceiliúradh seo a dhéanamh. Tá se iontach tábhachtach go dtabharfaí aitheantas don obair iontach atá déanta sa Teach seo le 90 bliain anuas agus don obair iontach atá fós ar siúl ann.

It is 90 years today since the Seanad, or a version of the Seanad, first sat, and much has changed since then. That Chamber was established after a long period of division and conflict. The Seanad was envisioned as a Chamber which could offset the powers of the executive by providing checks and balances. Realistically, however, it has never been like that. The Seanad we know today was not that first one, but the Seanad of de Valera's 1937 Constitution which was ostensibly established on a model of extracting expertise in various fields. This was, however, a corporatist and largely undemocratic approach and the product of a time when long discredited corporatist politics were in vogue. Somehow or other, and despite numerous reports and proposals to vary that, we are still stuck with this model. It is because we are stuck with that model that there are calls for its abolition, not least from the Taoiseach himself.

There have been numerous opportunities to do something about the structure of the Seanad. It is my view, and I believe a widely shared one, that the Seanad as currently constituted is undemocratic, unrepresentative and does not have a clear enough purpose. This does not mean there is no function for a second Chamber. It is not right or proper simply to remove one arm of the Houses of the Oireachtas without offering alternatives. Sinn Féin has proposed alternatives.

I commend Senators who put together the "Open it, Don?t Close it" report, which has been very valuable. The report usefully highlights that, even without constitutional reform, we can make elections to the Seanad more democratic by expanding the franchise, which is crucial for it to have any validity. The Seanad is clearly an appropriate place to provide representation to Irish citizens in the North and to the diaspora. These are categories of citizen that have no say in the political life of the State, and that situation must be corrected. We could also very much utilise the Seanad as a forum for scrutiny of European legislation.

On a day as auspicious as this, however, I pay tribute to all those who have passed through the Seanad, including those previously mentioned. I will not go over the names again because they are on the record. While taking into account all the political conflict we may have in the Chamber, it is not in question that people work very hard in here. They are here for the right reasons, including the betterment of the State. I congratulate all those who, in their own way, challenged the prevailing consensus of the time.

If the Seanad is to survive another nine years, however, not to mind 90, it needs to change and become more democratic. I appeal to the Government, especially the Taoiseach, to give us the chance for that to happen. The constitutional convention would probably be an appropriate forum by which to do that.

Mar dhuine a labhrann Gaeilge agus a bhfuil an-suim agam i gcúrsaí Ghaeilge, is fiú luadh go bhfuil úsáid na Gaeilge sa Seand seo ach go h-áirithe ardaithe go mór agus gur iontach an deis í an Seanad leis an nGaeilge a chur chun cinn sa saol poiblí. Molaim chuile dhuine atá tar éis é sin a dhéanamh, agus molaim d'éinne atá ag smaoineamh ar é a dhéanamh, é a dhéanamh chomh luath agus is féidir.

Molaim go h-ard an Chathaoirligh reatha, an Seanadóir Paddy Burke. Tá sé ag déanamh fíor-jab mar Chathaoirleach agus mar dhuine neamhspleách. Molaim chomh maith na ceannairí de na grúpaí éagsúla. Cé go mbíonn muid ag sparáil, mar a déarfá, ó am go chéile, tá an chairdeas fós ann, agus is ar mhaithe le chur chun cinn na díospóireachta a mbíonn muid ag sparáil. Molaim chomh maith an fhoireann ar fad a bhíonn ag obair linn: an Cléireach agus a cuid cairde sna h-oifigí, agus na h-uiséirí a dhéanann sár-obair ar fad agus a thugann an-cabhair dúinn. Guím breithlá shona ar mo chomh-Sheanadóirí agus tá súil agam go mba fada buan iad agus go mba fada buan an Teach seo.