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David Norris
Joe O'Toole
March 7, 2010
VOL 27 NO 10
Seanad fights for survival
The Upper House is in resurgence, with Enda Kenny's call for it to be axed prompting senators on all sides to raise their game
Donie Cassidy
Déirdre de Búrca
Frances Fitzgerald
Dan Boyle
ENDA Kenny's call for the Seanad to be scrapped 20 weeks ago has revitalised the Upper House and made it into a "hive of activity" as it fights for its political survival.
Or so senators claim, anyway. Politicians from across the spectrum agree that the Seanad has taken on a new life and Fianna Fáil's leader in the house even concedes that Kenny's call has already brought about change.
A Fine Gael motion of no confidence in Willie O'Dea from Senator Frances Fitzgerald is among the events that have brought the house, threatened with extinction, into the national consciousness.
On 18 February, the day after Green senator Dan Boyle tweeted that he did not have confidence in O'Dea, Fitzgerald made the shrewd political move of putting down the motion, which was a key factor in the Green party seeking O'Dea's resignation.
Fitzgerald told the Sunday Tribune: "Some people might think that it is ironic that the Seanad has been so centre stage over the last few months. From a Fine Gael perspective, we are working within the institutions that exist despite their imperfections.
"We felt that putting down a motion [on O'Dea] was right given what Dan Boyle had said. We were going to give him the opportunity to vote with his conscience."
The issue of the controversial HSE report into the death of Tracey Fay was first raised in the Seanad last Wednesday, a day before it became a massive issue in the Dáil.
And the recent resignation from the Seanad of Green senator Déirdre de Búrca served to raise questions about the stability of the Fianna Fáil/Green coalition.
Fianna Fáil Seanad leader Donie Cassidy believes that the upper house is "a hive of activity at the present time. There is so much legislation coming through the houses at the moment and the Seanad is helping the government with at least 30% of it.
"While I totally disagree with Enda Kenny's call for the Seanad to be abolished, it gave a voice of urgency in government so the changes that we were looking for, for so long, are starting to come in."
Independent senator David Norris rejected the notion that the Seanad has experienced a renaissance since Kenny called for its abolition and claimed: "It has always been a hive of activity. The media are only interested in people who routinely scream for heads on a plate, guts in a bucket and blood on the wall."
Norris, who tabled plans for Seanad reform in January, recalled the night Kenny made his call and said: "I have never seen his face in the Senate. He should come in and have a look. When he announced he was abolishing it, he dropped a bomb on Frances Fitzgerald. It was one of the best TV moments in 2009. Poor Frances looked not like a rabbit caught in the headlights and more like a mouse caught in the glare of a searchlight… you could hear her jaw drop."
Norris also pointed to how Senator Joe O'Toole had managed to achieve six amendments to the Nama legislation in the Seanad. He claimed that key legislation such as the Civil Partnerships Bill and the Biofuels Bill would never have seen the light of day without the Seanad.
Fitzgerald concluded: "I think that people have lost faith in politics and are extremely critical of the political system. It we want to regain that faith then people have to see the system working. They will have to see a more effective and efficient democracy which would be better with one house and a strengthened committee system.
"We will be publishing our 'New Politics' document in the next few weeks. To abolish the Seanad will have to have a referendum so I think that Enda's proposal will have to be seen in light of our New Politics document and the overall reform of the system."
March 7, 2010
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