Fianna Fail Bill proposes to give all voters a say in Seanad elections

Fianna Fáil has published a Bill on Seanad reform that proposes fundamental changes to the way in which senators are elected as well the composition of the 60-seat Upper House. The Bill does not propose any change to the Constitution.

Its Seanad Reform Bill 2014 was published yesterday by party leader Micheál Martin in Dublin. It proposes retaining the three main groupings of senators: the taoiseach’s 11 nominees, the six university senators and the 43 senators elected under five vocational panels.

However, the method of election and composition of each panel would change, with every citizen entitled to vote in Seanad elections.

The biggest change would be to the five vocational panels, which are specifically provided for in the Constitution.

At present, the only people entitled to elect the 43 members on these panels are members of the Oireachtas and city and county councillors. However, by employing a provision in article 19 of the Constitution, Fianna Fáil has said the franchise can be extended to every voter of the country. It will involve citizens choosing which group they will cast their vote for.

Graduates of a large number of third-level institutions would be entitled to vote for candidates on the six-person university panel. Those not entitled to vote on those panels would be entitled to choose to vote on one of the five vocational panels. The changes are similar to those proposed last year in two Seanad reform Bills, one published by Senators Katherine Zappone and Feargal Quinn; and the other by Senator John Crown.

Jim O’Callaghan, legal adviser to Fianna Fáil’s front bench, said a person could choose to vote on the agricultural panel, for example, even if they did not have a connection with agriculture. Asked was this arbitrary, he said not necessarily so, as people voted in Dáil elections based solely on where they lived.

Mr O’Callaghan also pointed out that the Bill ensured that a high level of gender balance could be achieved in the Seanad, on all panels.

In addition, the legislation lays out specific rules for the taoiseach's nominees, ensuring representation for the elderly; the young; the new Irish; the diaspora; people with disabilities; sports organisations; the arts and the Traveller community. "The fundamental difference is the method of election," said Mr Martin. "This will change the composition of the Seanad. We will have a far more diverse Seanad with more diverse voices. That diversity will be the key change and will bring more energy to our legislature.

“It is a closed elite group at the moment that can get elected. This will broaden it out and bring a better energy.”

Mr Martin said he was disappointed with Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s response to the Seanad referendum in October. Everybody on all sides agreed that the chamber, as currently arranged, was not working and that radical reform was needed.

However he said that besides bringing forward legislation to give effect to the 1979 referendum that extended the franchise for the university panels to other third-level institutions, Mr Kenny was proposing nothing more than procedural changes.