Seanad Éireann

New laws stalled in Upper House after criticism by backbenchers, Senators, free speech groups and tech billionaire Elon Musk

A former Lord Mayor of Belfast, he resigned his Seanad seat last year citing health reasons

Inside Politics podcast with Hugh Linehan

Minister says legislation is ‘genuine attempt’ to start reform as university Senators claim Bill is ‘disgrace’, and will keep Upper House as ‘rubber stamp’

Government plans to push through remaining stages of legislation without hate speech elements against backdrop of dispute over meaning of terms used

Peadar Tóibín says Senators ‘sniggered like giddy children’ as they denied being reported infiltrator during Seanad sitting

Controversial Planning and Development Bill a key part of plans to address housing crisis, but Opposition says it will add to delays and costs

Tongue-in-cheek denials follow recent reports that an Oireachtas member had allegedly been recruited by Russian intelligence

Politicians need to ‘clock in’ with fobs 120 days a year to claim travel and accommodation expenses but no requirement to clock out

Ms O’Rourke was deputy leader of party between 1994 and 2002 and became Seanad leader afterwards

Former taoiseach says people could first vote on the idea in principle before getting a subsequent confirmatory vote on a proposed new constitution

Six senators to be elected in future by all graduates of higher education institutions - but not until 2030

The Seanad member survived gun shots, a kidnapping and the burning down of his ancestral home at Marlfield

Social media posts including death threats were made in the hours before attacks and are being investigated

British and American systems do not quake at the thought of governments losing votes via their supporters who disagree with the majority

One of the biggest pieces of legislation in the history of the State is intended to speed up housing supply and will allow for restructuring of An Bord Pleanála

Minister for Justice says new procedure ‘just and fair’ in process used less than 10 times since 1956

Two Fianna Fáil, one Fine Gael and two Independent representatives spending five days in country

Byelection for the vacant TCD seat would likely cost more than €500,000

With reform repeatedly promised and not delivered, the only way to fix the lack of Seanad reform it is at the next Dáil election