Senator Timmy Dooley (FF) has outlined his commitments as Co-President of the ALDE Party as one of the reasons why he finished third from the bottom in a Seanad league table for the number of votes he cast for the first six months of the year.
The Fianna Fáil Senator voted nine times, compared to 17 for Senator Roisín Garvey and 33 for Senator Martin Conway after 36 ballots, which were held in the Seanad this year.
Senator Dooley pointed out a vote is not held every day in the Seanad where ten votes could be held one day, there may be no vote for three or four weeks, there could be two votes before a long break with seven or eight held on another day.
“You could be off site attending another meeting. You always have the permission of the whip to be absent. For the past two and a half to three years, I have been Co-President of the ALDE Party so I spend a lot of time in European cities including some weekends.
“I have permission from the whip to do this. There are benefits to Clare as I was able to bring a conference on wind energy to Ennis as a result of that role.
The day I am away there could be ten votes. I could be present for three weeks when there are no votes. I could be in the Department of Health meeting officials about an issue when a vote is called and you are not going to be able to get back for the vote.
“It is different in the Dáil where they group them once a week on a Wednesday night,” he explained.
Senator Martin Conway’s Seanad voting record was one of the highest at 33 votes and was higher than the combined total of his Clare colleagues who were both appointed as Taoiseach nominees.
“I consider voting in the Seanad is very important and I always make an effort to be present to vote. Sometimes it is impossible to vote because you can be caught attending a committee meeting where you are about to speak on an issue affecting Clare such as University Hospital Limerick.
“I have always had a high voting record. This is my third time in a row getting elected to the Seanad. I always like to be able to turn around at the end of the term and say I did my very best, I turned up for work, I voted, I participated, I spoke and I used the Seanad as effectively as I could to represent Clare people and people with disabilities.
“I feel I have a responsibility to ensure I fully participate in the Seanad and in an Oireachtas committee and I am lucky enough to be chairing a committee.
“When I away on parliamentary business, I try and ensure it is not where the Seanad is sitting,” he said.
Senator Roisín Garvey, who is bidding to become the next Green Party Deputy Leader, finished mid table with 17 votes.
In an interview with the Clare Champion, Senator Garvey outlined voting is quite random in the Seanad as sometimes “you could have ten votes one week and none for a week”.
“This doesn’t reflect my attendance. I am often in the Seanad when there are no votes taken. I could be somewhere else for a day when there might be eight votes. There isn’t one vote taken every day, it is not spread out evenly.”
The former Clare County Councillor recalled five votes were held one day a few weeks ago.
If the Green Party Senator knows she is going to be absent for a vote, she tries to arrange a pair from an independent member. Being a member of four Oireachtas committees, she explained she has to be present at these meetings to ensure the Green Party is represented, which can clash with her Seanad duties.
“You never know when the votes are going to be called so you can’t not plan anything else in case there is a Seanad vote.
“Sometimes a vote is called to decide the Order of Business, which has nothing to do with laws being passed. It is very hard to be everywhere all the time. Our job involves a lot more than sitting in the Seanad chamber,” she said.
It is expected that the vote for the new Deputy Green Party Leader will be held during an online convention of more than 4,000 members on July 14 when the new Party Leader will already be elected.
While Senator Garvey doesn’t have access to the list of Green Party members she believes she is well known from her involvement in party workshops.
East Clare correspondent, Dan Danaher is a journalism graduate of Rathmines and UL. He has won numerous awards for special investigations on health, justice, environment, and reports on news, agriculture, disability, mental health and community.