Sir, - I wish to express my dismay that the Dail Select Committee, in its recent report, has recommended abolition of the existing university seats in the Seanad and their replacement with seats for representatives of Irish people living overseas. The constitution of the Dail reflects the traditional liberal view of citizens as unconnected individuals, electing representatives on a strictly proportional basis. Coalitions of interest, in the broadest sense, are left to emerge on the flow of the Dail after an election has taken place.
By contrast, the constitution of the Seanad is based on the corporatist principle elaborated in papal encyclicals of the earlier part of this century and favoured by de Valera and the drafters of the Bunreacht na hEireann. This principle requires that recognition and representation be given to group interests within society as such. Thus the panel system through which the Seanad is elected and constituted reflects the interests of commerce, the arts, the regions and education, among others.
Emigrants do not, however, constitute a distinctive interest group within Irish society, and they do not seek representation as such. Emigrants are as varied as those who presently constitute the Dail electorate. They seek to have this diversity recognised in the only way possible and in line with all other European countries: through an extension of the Dail franchise.
There may be a long term problem of legitimacy with the Seanad. Irish constitutional politics may have moved on from corporatism. But these issues are of absolutely no relevance to the question of emigrants' voting rights. Yours, etc.,
School of Law, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL.