Enda knows turkeys don’t vote for Christmas

I will not believe that the Seanad has been scrapped until it actually happens.All the newly elected senators will have to be dragged out of Leinster House kicking and screaming and the doors locked tightly behind them before I really believe that this useless institutionhas been abolished.

All the political parties, led by Fine Gael, promised before the General Election that they were in favour of abolishing the Seanad. That promise was reiterated during the week by Enda Kenny as he pledged to hold a referendum in less than 12 months’ time on the issue of abolishing the Upper House of the Oireachtas.
He said he had asked the Attorney General, Maire Whelan, to prepare the necessary legislation.
That should be good enough for anybody. Sorry, I am not convinced. Forgive me for being cynical but I never believe in political promises when those promises might hurt the politicians who make them.
Although Enda Kenny does not seem to have left himself any wiggle room, no room for compromise, I find it extremely difficult to believe that the Seanad will be no more in a few years’ time.
Turkeys do not vote for Christmas. It was easy for Enda Kenny to make that original promise to abolish the Seanad in the run-up to the General Election. It was a sure headline grabber. For once, somebody was proposing the abolition of the Seanad rather than reforming it. We had been hearing proposals and reading reports about the need to reform the House for as long as I can remember and nothing happened. But now, at last, the man who was certain to become the next Taoiseach was pledging to cut out all the nonsense and do away with the Seanad with one stroke of the pen. The time for reform of the place was too late.They had been given several opportunities to do that over the years and failed to do so.
The proposal to abolish the Seanad proved so popular that Fianna Fáil and the other political parties belatedly jumped on the bandwagon.They were not going to let Fine Gael hog all the limelight on this issue.So, like mother’s apple pie, they all wanted a slice of the same thing.
That was before the election.
Another reason, of course, why Fine Gael was so gung-ho about abolition was that the place was traditionally owned by Fianna Fáil. It was basically a Fianna Fáil institution for Fianna Fáil people.Fine Gael and Labour senators were few and far between.
That’s all changed now.Fine Gael is in the driving seat and Enda Kenny is going to be able, as Taoiseach, to nominate 11 more of his own and Eamon Gilmore’s people in a day or so. Which means, of course, that his pledge to abolish the Seanad will hit Fine Gael harder than it will hit Fianna Fáil. What was that I said about turkeys and Christmas?
Now, I am hearing more about reform once more than I am hearing about abolition in the last few days since the Seanad elections. Those newly elected senators celebrating their great victories last week were acting as if their futures were secure for life. None of them are going to take kindly to the notion that the end is nigh, even before their new political careers have got off the ground.
The two new Clare Fine Gael senators, Tony Mulcahy and Martin Conway, are to be congratulated on winning seats in the Upper House. They were well-deserved awards after years of hard work and previous failures.
While both men probably look on the Seanad as a stepping-stone to the Dáil, they would also look on it as a consolation prize for those who fail to make it to the Dáil. They wouldn’t want to see that prize pulled from under their feet before they have properly settled into their seats.
I imagine the views of all those new Fine Gael senators regarding the Seanad were summed up by the new Wexford senator, Michael d’Arcy, who said, “As the current structure stands, I don’t believe it has a future.” That’s a very significant statement.Note that he did not merely say that the Seanad had no future but pointed out it had no future “as the current structure stands”.
I think he is talking more there about reforming the place than he is about scrapping it. This is no Johnny-come-lately senator who does not know his place, talking here but this is a man whose family background is steeped in traditional Fine Gael politics and who would have a fair idea of what’s going on in Enda Kenny’s head.
Yes, I believe a referendum is going to be held on the issue of the Seanad’s future. But I do not believe the question will be a straightforward one like “Are you in favour of abolishing the Seanad? Yes or No.”
I may be wrong and I hope I am wrong because I cannot see any reason for holding on to the Seanad in any shape or form.Apart from the fact that it is a luxury we cannot afford, it never served any useful purpose. It is an undemocratic institution, as the vast majority of the people have no say in electing its members. They will argue that the standard of debate in the Upper House is of a very high standard. You should listen to a debate in the Seanad sometime – that’s if you are able to stay awake long enough – and judge that for yourself.
I fear that the question to be put before the people may be so complicated that we won’t know what we are voting for. Enda Kenny has already said that the question is “complex”.
Perhaps all those new senators who celebrated their victories last week as if they were secure ones, know more than I do.
I would not write the Seanad off just yet.