ANALYSIS:Enda Kenny knew there would be strong resistance in his party to abolishing the Seanad, writes STEPHEN COLLINS
ENDA KENNY has clearly attempted to capture the mood of an electorate deeply disillusioned with politics and politicians. But he has also demonstrated considerable courage by his willingness to alienate a significant segment of his own parliamentary party.
It is one of the truisms of politics that a party leader who aspires to lead the country should demonstrate his fitness for the highest office in the land by slaying a sacred cow close to the hearts of his own supporters.
Since his election as leader of Fine Gael in 2002, Mr Kenny has had a great deal of success in his role as party leader. He has brought Fine Gael back from the brink of oblivion to a position where it is now the biggest party in the country.
One of the reasons for that is the way he has avoided the internal squabbling that bedevilled the main Opposition party for decades.
He has clearly made a decision that the time for careful party management is over and it is now time to go for broke. The manner in which he announced his plan to abolish the Seanad at a party function, without having it endorsed in advance by his front bench, never mind the Fine Gael parliamentary party was a clear signal of a changed style.
Mr Kenny clearly knew there would be strong resistance within his parliamentary party to the move so he just went ahead and announced it. That will already have made him some dangerous enemies but he is banking on public support to outweigh the negative response from a section of his parliamentary party.
“It’s easy for Enda to attack Fianna Fáil but taking on your own crowd is the real test. Enda has done it with his eyes wide open,” said one supporter in the parliamentary party.
Political opponents and cynical observers have accused Mr Kenny of jumping on a populist bandwagon in an effort to recapture ground lost to Eamon Gilmore because of the Labour leader’s role in forcing John O’Donoghue’s resignation. The fact that not only was Mr Kenny’s announcement made without consultation but it actually contradicted things he said only a few months ago has generated a controversy all of its own.
That, however, is to miss the essential point that the public is now crying out for radical action to reform the political system. Fianna Fáil’s courageous Minister Noel Dempsey tried to do it a few years ago but was stymied by lack of support from his leader Bertie Ahern. Given the pain that is going to be inflicted on the whole of society in the budget, reform of the political system is now an absolute imperative if people are to be persuaded of the necessity for sacrifice.
Political reform has been talked about for long enough. It is 30 years since a referendum was held to change the university representation in the Seanad and the decision of the electorate has still not been acted on. In more recent times the all party Oireachtas committee recommended reform and that was followed by another scheme proposed by a committee headed by Mary O’Rourke, the leader of the last Seanad.
In the face of such inertia the public would have had little sympathy for another review of the system. As Mr Kenny pointed out a number of other European countries, including Sweden, and Denmark have abolished their second houses of parliament and there is no compelling reason to keep ours.
While there are certainly positive features to the Seanad, and its debates are often more open and informative than those that take place in the Dáil, it is hard to argue that it is worth €25 million a year, given the current state of our national finances.
The Progressive Democrats proposed the abolition of the Seanad in the party’s general election manifesto back in the election campaign of 1987.
Subsequently, after the 1989 election it not only went back on its commitment but actually accepted seats in the Seanad. Mr Kenny will need to demonstrate that his commitment to abolish the Seanad and go for significant reform of the Dáil is genuine.
In his speech he gave a firm commitment to hold a referendum within a year of getting into government and that is something he will have to honour if he achieves office.