WHY SHOULD Seanad Éireann move to Limerick later this year and hold a once-off sitting at the University of Limerick? Independent Senator Joe O’Toole has proposed the idea to highlight a failure by successive governments to implement the will of the people on one aspect of Seanad reform. His timing coincides with the 30th anniversary of the passage of a referendum in 1979 on university representation.
The change in the Constitution was meant to give all third-level graduates a vote in Seanad elections, not just those from Trinity College and the National University of Ireland. Legislation, however, was required to give effect to that decision. Thirty years later, none has been passed. Not surprisingly, the University of Limerick location was chosen to underline how its graduates – like many others – remain disenfranchised despite the will of the people.
Senator O’Toole’s novel proposal was made in the context of a motion that he has tabled in the Seanad which calls on the Government to implement an all-party report on reform of the Upper House agreed five years ago. Over the past 81 years, there have been 12 separate reports on Seanad reform. And in the last 12 years, no fewer than three (including two reviews by the All Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution) have been completed. In 2004, the Seanad’s own review acknowledged that: “In the eyes of many members of the public the Seanad is seen as weak, ineffective and of questionable value”. And it sought to change that perception by proposing major changes but to little avail.
Five years later, there is no sign of a change of attitude. Former Senator John A Murphy recently noted apropos Seanad reform that “inertia, a low priority order and vested interests have prevailed without much struggle”. Certainly, the record bears him out. The Upper House has been treated with a great deal of cynicism by governments, political parties and Oireachtas members. Successive governments have ignored the will of the people on university representation for three decades. Parties, such as the Progressive Democrats, readily accepted seats in the Seanad, having earlier called for its abolition. And too many Oireachtas members have used the Upper House either as a stepping-stone to a Dáil career or as a sanctuary following electoral rejection.
Minister for the Environment John Gormley is now chairing a joint committee which is to report to the Government on Seanad reform. Reform was never more necessary but it has never seemed less likely.