A chara, – Now that the way has been paved for a referendum to abolish the Seanad, I am left wondering why on earth anybody would accept a nomination for the seat left vacant by Martin McAleese (“Hildegarde Naughton appointed to Seanad”, Home News, July 19th)?
Why would somebody accept a job in an organisation which may well soon be history? Why would somebody accept a job from the person who made the decision to abolish the Seanad in the first place?
The nominee must either have a very low opinion of the value of the Seanad, or perhaps a misguided opinion on the value of the Dáil, to which she no doubt aspires to join after the next general election. – Is mise,
SEÁN Ó KIERSEY,
Kill Abbey,
Deansgrange,
Blackrock, Co Dublin.
Sir, – Martin Krasa (July 20th) argues that it is the models of Denmark and Sweden that are “trotted out by the abolitionists” as illustrating countries that have only one chamber of parliament, and then, as an implied counter-argument, he goes on to list (mostly) non-democracies that also use the same model.
But this is only a partial picture. For not only did he neglect to point out that around half of the world’s countries employ one chamber, but he also failed to mention that there are many other representative liberal democratic countries that use it, for example, New Zealand, Portugal, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Cyprus, Greece, Singapore, Turkey, Peru, South Korea and Malta.
It should also be pointed out that all of the devolved governments closer to home – the Northern Ireland Assembly, the Scottish Parliament, and the National Assembly for Wales – also have adopted only one parliamentary chamber. – Yours, etc,
IVOR SHORTS,
Hermitage Close,
Rathfarnham, Dublin 16.
Sir, – I note with interest the coverage of the Young Fine Gael summer school (Home News, July 22nd), in particular that group’s stance, or lack thereof, on the Seanad abolition referendum. The decision of the Young Fine Gael executive to take a neutral stance following the divided outcome of their motion, actually overturns a standing 2009 decision from its national council that favoured a reformed Seanad. While Young Fine Gael was discussing the issue this weekend, Ógra Fianna Fáil similarly had the issue on its agenda at the George Colley Summer School in Waterford.
The Ógra Fianna Fáil position on this issue has been clear, since members adopted the view that the Seanad should be reformed instead of abolished at our national youth conference held in Sligo in February of this year. I look forward to campaigning in the referendum for a No vote to retain and reform an integral feature of Irish democracy. – Yours, etc,
SEAN CASSIDY,
St Laurence’s Road,
Dublin 20.