One of the reasons the 2013 referendum to abolish the Seanad was defeated was that those of us in Democracy Matters, the civic society group campaigning for a No vote, together with other voices, managed to persuade much of the electorate that if the government of the day had the will the Seanad could be reformed within the current constitutional provisions.
In publications from September 2013 onwards we set out proposals for the most far-reaching and comprehensive reform of Seanad Éireann since the enactment of the Irish Constitution in 1937, avoiding the necessity of referendum.
We recommended throwing open the Seanad to a wide electorate. We argued that every citizen should have a vote for the Seanad.
We argued that first-generation Irish diaspora and all adults living in the North should also be given votes in Seanad elections. We argued for legally-required gender equality in the Seanad.
These proposals were ultimately reflected in the Seanad Bill 2014 published by Senators Katherine Zappone and Feargal Quinn. This Bill also included proposals for an enhanced role for the Seanad in the oversight of European affairs and secondary legislation.
Consensus
The outcome of the Seanad referendum was close. Some 52 per cent voted against the Seanad’s abolition, 48 per cent in favour. However, there was overwhelming consensus among both abolitionists and retentionists that the Seanad needed reform.
In the immediate aftermath of the referendum Enda Kenny acknowledged that the electorate had given him and his Government a wallop and expressed himself open to proposals for change in how the Seanad was elected. He promised shortly thereafter to do the easy part of that reform by enacting legislation to give effect to the 1979 constitutional amendment to extend votes for the university seats to graduates of colleges other than the National University of Ireland,
There has since been no real progress even on that modest proposal for the third-level seats. The Taoiseach held a series of meetings with other party leaders but had no concrete proposals.
Then he surprised us all last December by announcing the appointment of an expert working group to report on how the Seanad might be reformed within the current constitutional provisions.
The group was chaired by Maurice Manning, and included other former senators like Pat Magner, Mary O’Rourke, Joe O’Toole and Maurice Hayes, together with two academics, Mary C Murphy and Elaine Byrne, as well as Tom Arnold, the chair of the constitutional convention.
The group appointed Michael McDowell SC as its constitutional adviser. Brian Hunt, a specialist in parliamentary procedure and legislative drafting, also advised them.
Not surprisingly the main proposals from this expert group published this week mirror many of those which Democracy Matters made two years ago. That is the case not so much because O’Toole, O’Rourke, McDowell and Hunt were prominent members of Democracy Matters but because an examination of the options for reform within the current constitutional provisions was always going to conclude that broader suffrage with one person one vote, together with votes for emigrants and adults in Northern Ireland, were both possible and desirable.
The proposals in the Manning group’s report differ from those advanced by Democracy Matters in two respects.
This working group recommends the retention of one panel to be elected by county councillors and Oireachtas members. There is a certain political merit in doing so, not least because it makes the reforms more palatable to political incumbents at national and local level.
More interestingly the Manning group has not followed the Democracy Matters recommendation for gender balance in the Seanad.
This working group also did excellent work in exploring how online technology could be used in a secure and affordable manner to register voters and to issue ballot papers.
Lack of political will
It looks, however, that the Manning group’s valiant efforts to drive implementation of this report may be frustrated by a lack of political will. The Government has managed to wind down the clock. Even if legislation along the lines proposed by the Manning group is enacted before the general election there would not be time to implement it and the next Seanad will be elected on the current system.
This week the Taoiseach welcomed the working group report but said nothing about accepting or implementing it.
Instead his statement spoke a lot about further discussion, debate and analysis.
Some dared to hope that the establishment of this working group heralded a “road to Damascus” conversion by the Taoiseach on Seanad reform. Unfortunately Kenny’s attitude appears more Augustinian than Pauline. Again it is a case of let’s have reform, but not yet.
Twitter: @ noelwhelan