Senators won’t campaign on issue

SITTING Fine Gael Senator Martin Conway is opposed to the proposed abolition of the Seanad but will not be campaigning publicly in the build-up to this autumn’s referendum.
“I’m voting against the abolition of the Seanad but I’m not going to partake in the debate or campaign either way. I think that people deserve to have a debate and the referendum is very welcome. I’m looking forward to the referendum but what I’m looking forward to even more is the pre-referendum discussion. It will be the first time since the Seanad was incepted back in the 1930s that we are going to have a frank and open debate on the Seanad, its structure and the contribution it has made. Over the years if you take the house in its totality, it had a major impact on Irish society, in particular when you look at some of the work that David Norris did in terms of decriminalising homosexuality,” Senator Conway said.
“There was a lot of other contributors who were members of the Seanad, including Mary Robinson and Senator Maurice Manning, who made very significant contributions. I think a lot of that will come out but the Seanad in its present form does need to be reformed,” he added.
The North Clare Senator feels changes should be made to the manner in which people are elected to the Seanad.
“It needs to be opened up and an awful lot more people need to run. I don’t have an opinion as to what type of reform the Seanad needs but I’m very happy to listen to the debate. Either way, I think we’re going to see radical reform but I don’t think the Irish people, in their heart of hearts, want to see a third of the Oireachtas vanish. What they would like to see is the number of politicians reduced. I think we could have a Seanad of 30 or 35 members,” he suggested.
Meanwhile, Senator Tony Mulcahy said while he will vote to keep the Seanad, he won’t be campaigning in contravention of Fine Gael’s policy.
“Number one I’ll vote for the legislation to allow people to have their say. Number two I won’t canvass either way and number three, when I actually go into vote, I’ll be voting for its retention because I don’t trust one house of parliament at all. That’s my own personal view.
“It may be fine under the current regime but take it down the road a number of years and God only knows what we’ll end up with,” he told The Champion on Tuesday.
While he accepted the Seanad doesn’t have very extensive powers, he feels it can exert an important influence.
“It doesn’t have any great powers to stop any of the carry-on that happens but if you make enough noise, you could certainly stop it. You may not have the voting power to stop it but if you make enough noise you can.”
He criticised some politicians who have sat on the Seanad and now claim that one house is adequate to serve the country.
“Some of the people who are saying that actually sat on it. Why did they go in there at all? I voted for some of the people who are actually saying that.
“If it was so terribly wrong now, obviously it was so terribly wrong then and why didn’t they do something then?”
The Shannon-based representative acknowledged the Upper House needs reform but said the same applies to the Dáil.
“Both houses need it really. To be honest with you, I’d say that from a meeting perspective, Clare County Council is better run than either house of the Oireachtas.”
He said the referendum may be a close-run thing. “That’s the current mood but the referendum on investigations looked like sailing home and the children’s referendum got fairly tight in the end. None of these things are gimmes. The Irish electorate are a very shrewd electorate.”