Sir, – “Reforming” the Seanad, by having it more directly elected and giving it more power, as seems to be advocated by “an official working group”, is just creating another Dáil. We already have one of those. Giving power to passport-holding emigrants and Northern Ireland citizens would give power to those who do not pay taxes in this country to advocate God knows what lines of unaffordable expenditure.
The Seanad, however reformed, is an expensive talking shop for the insider elite. It is not needed in a country that is up to its ears in debt. All the reform proposals in the world will not make the Seanad relevant to the problems of this recently bankrupt country, which has many more politicians relative to population than similar countries. – Yours, etc,
A LEAVY,
Dublin 13.