Sir, – If the Senate is to be abolished, future generations will be deprived of proof that there is life after death. Our generation and our predecessors have seen unsuccessful candidates at general elections being selected by the taoiseach of the day for what is commonly known as the “TDs’ graveyard”. This miraculous state allows them to reshape their profile in order to emerge glorious and triumphant at the next general election. This process allows them in later years to be described as “former eminent members” of the Upper House which they used as a stepping stone to get back to the Lower House.
It is time for the patres (et matres) conscripti to become the patres et matres proscripti. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – I feel there is a need to replace the Seanad with a body that increases accountability for the citizen and renders meaningful service to the nation.
That is why I propose in my book Towards a United Ireland a body which I gave the working title of “Petitions Board”. The citizen in an appropriate manner could petition this body if he/she felt his/her constitutional rights were being violated whether by commission or omission.
I further propose that such a body’s adjudications should carry legal weight so that it would be a body of substance and seen to be so. I also suggest that the body could be part-elected on the same day for the same term as the Dáil and partly appointed. The appointees would obviously be people with the appropriate experience for the potential work.
The opportunity exists to be radical; surely we cannot miss it by tinkering at the edges and basically changing very little. – Yours, etc,