FIANNA FÁIL has done better than expected in the Seanad elections, largely as a result of Sinn Féin votes. The outcome may serve as a warning as well as a comfort to Micheál Martin who identified Sinn Féin as a major threat to the party during the general election campaign. Keeping your enemies close has its risks. But, with a referendum to abolish the Upper House promised by Government, short-term political advantage proved irresistible for some candidates.
The two-seat bonus gained by Fianna Fáil as a result of Sinn Féin’s support was just one aspect of a difficult campaign waged by the party and its candidates. A sizable number of Independent councillors and TDs, who may have been former members of the party, also offered support and provided Fianna Fáil with a final tally of 14 seats, three more than expected. Mr Martin’s authority as party leader was successfully challenged by a number of established Senators who refused to stand down. Having nominated 10 candidates as the best prospects to promote Fianna Fáil’s recovery, he saw only five elected. Not surprisingly, the candidates supported by Sinn Féin were not on Mr Martin’s list.
Fine Gael has now consolidated its position as the largest political party at all three levels: local government, Dáil and Seanad. It will be reassured by the success of 18 senators, including a number of defeated Dáil candidates, even before Enda Kenny nominates his Taoiseach’s 11, next week. The Labour Party gained two seats, as did Sinn Féin, and both parties will hope to capitalise on these successes when the general election comes around. At that stage, the Seanad may go out of existence. Members are expected to serve for a full term, no matter what the public decides in the promised referendum.
There is a small window of opportunity during which new members can attempt to prove their worth and convince the public that reform, rather than abolition, would be the best option. In the past, university representatives made significant contributions to political thought and development in this State. But they were the exceptions. The majority of members were political placemen and time-servers. For more than three decades, successive governments ignored demands for highly publicised and much-needed reforms and allowed the system to degrade. The Seanad became largely irrelevant and the actions of some members, particularly in relation to expense claims, brought it into further disrepute.
With the three main parties committed to a referendum, it may be too late to save the Seanad. Legislating for direct elections and transferring new powers and responsibilities to it would be constitutionally difficult and have the potential to bring it into conflict with the Dáil. Securing cross-party agreement might not be possible. Because of those issues, a festering problem was ignored for decades. Now, the Seanad’s abolition has been offered as a sop to assuage public anger over past government mismanagement. It represents a simplistic and inadequate gesture towards political reform.