THE SEANAD is “exclusive, undemocratic and unrepresentative” and is in urgent need of reform, according to long-serving Independent Senator, Joe O’Toole.
He has tabled a motion for debate in the Upper House this week urging the Government to hold a constitutional referendum to implement the All Party Report on Seanad Reform agreed three years ago.
“It is fair to say that over the past few years the Seanad has improved out of all recognition in the legislative area, and certainly on long and difficult Bills like the Broadcasting Bill, The Charities Bill, the Adoption Bill and others is probably doing a far more effective job of scrutiny and amendment than the Dáil but as regards the composition of the Seanad and its method of election we are in the dark ages,” said Mr O’Toole.
He said Minister for the Environment John Gormley is chairing a joint committee due to report to Government on Seanad reform.
“All the answers and all the recommendations are to be found in the Report on Seanad Reform but there seems little likelihood of significant reform being introduced anytime soon. We could begin by acknowledging that the Seanad is exclusive, undemocratic and unrepresentative and that in particular its anachronistic and opaque system of election is in urgent need of reform.”
The motion in the Seanad this week supports the proposition that every qualified citizen should be entitled to participate in Seanad general elections and urges the Government to bring forward as soon as possible, the necessary constitutional and legislative amendments to establish this universal franchise.
It is signed by Joe O’Toole, Ivana Bacik and other Independents along with the Fine Gael leader in the Seanad, Frances Fitzgerald.
