Sir,
The Supreme Court ruling on the seventh amendment has put a welcome end to the Government’s long drawn out stalling and blocking of Seanad reform. However it is clear they are still trying to do as little as possible. The proposal sent to Cabinet is flawed and limited with a minimalist approach which falls far short of the spirit of the 1979 and 2013 referenda where people gave a clear mandate for a more open and democratic Seanad. Most notably, it does not deliver universal franchise. It merely widens the pool of graduates entitled to vote on the six university seats but does not give the wider public any right to vote on the forty three panel seats.
We need real reform of the kind set out in the Seanad Bill 2020, drafted by myself, Senator Michael McDowell and other members of the cross-party Seanad Reform Implementation Group. Our Seanad Bill 2020 charts a progressive path to Seanad reform giving every adult citizen the right to vote in Seanad elections while also fully meeting the requirements of last year’s Supreme Court ruling.
The debates and decisions within the Seanad affect everyone, and everyone should have a say in electing its members.
Yours etc.
Senator Alice-Mary Higgins,
