Abolition of the Seanad is the nuclear option for reform of Ireland’s upper house, but just over thirty years ago the Irish electorate were given a different option.
The proposed bill put forward by government yesterday would do away with our 60 senators and a handful of TDs after the next General Election, and introduce a turbocharged committee system for dealing with prospective legislation.
This is not the only option of how to deal with our Upper House, with the main alternative being put foward by some such as Senators John Crown and Katherine Zappone to reform rather than retain or abolish the Seanad, or even reform the Dáil instead, as Noel Whelan, Political Columnist with the Irish Times and a member of Democracy Matters told The Right Hook yesterday.
However, Ireland previously voted on an element of Seanead reform in a referendum that suffered not only from a low turnout of 28.6% but also from the legislation never being enacted into law.
More graduates
In 1979, the seventh amendment to Bunreacht na hÉireann was passed by a majority of nearly 90% and was to provide “for the election of members of Seanad Éireann by universities and other institutions of higher education” other than the current limited selection. Article 18 of the constitution was amended accordingly.
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Only graduates of Trinity College Dublin and of National University of Ireland colleges (NUI Galway and Maynooth, University College Dublin, and University College Cork) are given the chance to elect senators - three each from two constituencies of University of Dublin and National University of Ireland.
Under the seventh amendment, if it was to be put into law, members of other third level institutions, for example Dublin City University or University of Limerick, would be able to vote for these six senators, opeining the elections up to hundreds of thousands more people.
Activating legislation
In the consultation paper published by a number of senators on Seanad Reform, "Open It, Don’t Close It", said that enacting this dormant part of our constitution would end the “enduring suggestion of elitism” that the current system creates.
Colm Hamrogue of Graduate Equality Ireland called for its activation back in 2009, and two years previous the Irish Times reports that the then Green Party leader John Gormley promised to enact it, only to face strict criticism from then-Senator Shane Ross that it would open up the senate to be dominated by the main political parties.
In 1998, The Labour Party put forward the Seanad Electoral (Higher Education) Bill, and in May of this year Senator Fergal Quinn put forward a similar bill.
This Bill could become a related if the upcoming referendum is defeated, due to the fact that as Senator Ivana Bacik said during the discussions for Senator Quinn’s bill “the call for reform will become unarguable.”
