New report believed to recommend radical reform of Seanad

A report believed to recommend radical reform of the Seanad and its electoral system has been presented to Taoiseach Enda Kenny.

The report has been drawn up by an expert group established by the Government late last year following the rejection by the electorate of the proposal to abolish the Seanad.

The group, chaired by the former leader of the Seanad and current chancellor of the National University of Ireland (NUI), Maurice Manning, was asked to bring forward its proposals as quickly as possible and was given a deadline of the end of March.

The Government has indicated it would act on the report’s recommendations. This would involve the biggest shake-up in the Seanad’s composition and electoral system since the Constitution was adopted in 1937.

Vocational panels

The Seanad has 60 members, with 43 elected by members of local authorities in five panels covering a range of vocational interests. Another six senators are elected by university graduates, three from the NUI and three from Trinity College. The final 11 are nominated by the taoiseach of the day.

Reform of the university representation is already under way with the creation of one six-member constituency which will include the NUI colleges, TCD and the country’s other third-level institutions.

The people of the country voted in a referendum in 1978 to allow for the widening of the university franchise to cover all third-level graduates but that was never implemented.

The main focus of the expert group was to look in detail at how the system for the election of 43 members from five panels could be reformed. The group was tasked with coming up with recommendations that conform to the Constitution and would not require another referendum. Article 18 of the Constitution specifies that 43 members should be elected by five panels which should have between five and 11 members.

The panels are agriculture (11 seats), labour (11), industrial and commercial (nine), administrative (seven) and cultural and educational (five).

The Constitution does not specify who should have a vote for any of the panels but says it should be regulated by law. At present the law specifies the electorate for the panels should be the members of local authorities plus the members of the Dáil and outgoing Seanad.

New criteria

The expert group's report is expected to recommend new criteria for the operation of the panel system. Apart from Dr Manning, the other members of the group are former minister and leader of the Seanad, Mary O'Rourke, former senators Joe O'Toole, Maurice Hayes and Pat Magner, political scientists Mary C Murphy of University College Cork and Elaine Byrne, and former public servant and chairman of the Irish Times Trust Tom Arnold.