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Voters chose by a narrow margin in a referendum in 2013 to retain the Seanad. It’s unlikely they are happy with that decision, writes Senator Gerard P Craughwell.
Earlier, the Taoiseach promised that senators will get more work once legislation to give all third-level graduates a vote in Seanad elections is passed. The upper house is sitting for just a day-and-a-half this week.
Enda Kenny has said the upper house can have greater powers of scrutiny but he does not intend to introduce universal suffrage for elections to the Seanad.
With the onset of the crisis five years ago, the malaise in our political system came to the surface; now, thanks in part to the Seand referendum, it is bubbling over, writes Colin Murphy.
Some cynics claim that the government will do nothing about the Seanad now, but they are ignoring the reality that 93 per cent of the people oppose the status quo, writes Larry Donnelly.
Some might argue that a bad Seanad is better than no Seanad – but having a “bad” Seanad is far worse, inspiring only cynicism and harming the political process, writes Ale White TD.
In pushing for Seanad abolition, the government is trying to strip a layer of democracy designed to give fundamental protections to citizens, writes Niall Collins TD.
I have a lot of time for the Taoiseach, but his leadership has been autocratic and even authoritarian in a representative democracy and I find this unsettling, writes Larry Donnelly.
While there are practical arguments for a bill that requires no constitutional change, it limits any reform across the whole legislative body, writes Eoin O’Malley.
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