Extension of Seanad voting rights unlikely before election

Proposals to extend Seanad voting rights to emigrants and people living in the North are unlikely to be implemented before the election due early next year, according to Government sources.

The proposals, to be published on Monday, have been made by a working group, chaired by former leader of the Seanad and current chancellor of the National University of Ireland (NUI) Maurice Manning. It was set up by Taoiseach Enda Kenny after the abolition of the Seanad was rejected in a referendum. He has committed the Government to implementing any reforms proposed.

A Seanad election must be held not later than 90 days after the dissolution of this Dáil, which can run no later than March 8th of next year.

“While there might be a desire to implement the proposals, given that votes for emigrants have been promised for a long time, the sheer logistics of what is involved would probably require a much longer run-in period,’’ said a source.

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

Reform of the university representation was announced after the referendum, with the creation of one six-member constituency to include the NUI colleges, TCD and the other third-level institutions. This implemented the widening of the third-level franchise, which was passed in a referendum in the 1970s but not put in place by successive governments.

It is understood the working group proposes that a small number of senators continue to be elected by county councillors and that the university seats be retained. The taoiseach’s 11 nominees would also be retained, it is understood, giving the government of the day an in-built majority unless Independents were nominated.

The group was asked to confine itself to the existing constitutional framework to avoid the requirement to have a referendum introducing changes. The Government’s view was that there was no public appetite for another referendum on the Seanad.

Other than Mr Manning, the other members of the working group are former minister and Seanad leader, 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.

Sinn Féin spokesman on the diaspora Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh said the proposals for Irish citizens living abroad fell far short of what people wanted and deserved. “The fact that it won’t even be delivered in time for the next Seanad election gives this the whiff of another Fine Gael-Labour pre-election promise which won’t be delivered upon.”

Mr Ó Clochartaigh said many emigrants felt “disenfranchised, frustrated and angry’’, adding they wanted their voices to be heard, respected and represented properly in Irish government institutions.