Madam, - Reform of the Seanad electoral system is a hardy political annual. Yet the existing system is highly competitive, as everyone who participates in it will attest, and it has its own integrity. The representative nominating bodies, covering a broad spectrum of national life, provide an element of external participation in the nomination process - which, unlike in other elections, is not left, apart from independents, exclusively to the political parties. Forty-three senators are elected by the people whom the people elect, i.e. Oireachtas members, and city and county councillors. There is nothing elitist or anachronistic about them, or about the Taoiseach's 11 nominees.
Article 24 of the Constitution of the Fifth Republic in France admirably expresses the validity of the same principle that applies here: "The deputies of the National Assembly are elected by direct suffrage. The Senate is elected by indirect suffrage." What would be an affront to democracy would be, if the Seanad were, as a more directly elected body, in a position systematically to challenge and frustrate the will of the Dáil. That was how the Free State Senate was abolished in the 1930s. The chief role of the Seanad is to exercise the power and influence of reason, and a second chamber does help to improve legislation, decision-making, and the quality of public debate.
The idea of a second legislative chamber free of politicians is a utopian one that exists nowhere in the world. If a senator on the University Panel can be leader of the Labour group without much comment, then it is difficult to see why other parties should be debarred from mobilising their supporters. It is obvious that, after a referendum was passed 28 years ago to modernise representation on that panel, that particular reform should be carried out without further delay.
The fallacy of the debate is the notion that, in order to carry out the will of the people with regard to the university seats, it is necessary to revisit the whole composition of the Seanad. This is, of course, a brilliant delaying tactic. Reform of the university representation which has also made a vital contribution can be carried through, independent of and without prejudice to other changes. Minority representation today should be secured through the mainstream of Irish politics, not through a special reserve, whatever its merits may have been. - Yours, etc,
MARTIN MANSERGH TD, Leinster House, Dublin 2.