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THE GOVERNMENT WILL introduce legislation in the Dáil today that will kickstart the process of electing a new Fine Gael senator to the Seanad in the wake of the loss of its majority in the upper house.
The coalition is currently in the minority in the Seanad after the election of Fine Gael’s Deirdre Clune to the European Parliament in May. It has been unable to fill the seat because there is no permanent Dáil clerk.
Under Dáil rules a permanent appointee is required in order to hold a by-election of Oireachtas members to fill a vacant Seanad seat seat. With the government’s majority in the Dáil it is a fait accompli that whoever the Taoiseach picks will be elected to the upper house.
As TheJournal.ie reported last month the coalition is currently in the minority in the upper house after Clune was elected to the European Parliament in May.
This has left the opposition with a 30-29 majority in its favour even when the vote of cathaoirleach Paddy Burke is included on the government side. As a result the opposition was able to defeat the government in a vote on an amendment to free GP care legislation this week and the coalition is potentially facing more defeats.
The role of Dáil clerk has been filled on an interim basis by Peter Finnegan for nearly a year since the retirement of long-serving Kieran Coughlan.
The Electoral (Amendment) (No. 4) Bill 2014 being debated today will allow the clerk-assistant of the Dáil to perform some of the functions of the Dáil clerk thus allowing a by-election to be held later this year.
All stages of the legislation will be guillotined by the government after an hour’s debate.
Speaking in the Dáil yesterday Tánaiste Joan Burton said the legislation was “technical” and noted that it will be “interesting to see if people will require all of the time which has been allocated”.
The government has previously indicated it is seeking changes to the law in order to have a more open competition for the role of clerk. Amendments to the Staff at the Houses of the Oireachtas Act would be required to do this.
In the interim the legislation being passed today will allow for a by-election that will likely take place when the Dáil and Seanad return in September.
Fine Gael is considering a number of options for the vacant seat with a candidate from Dublin most likely particularly from constituencies where the party doesn’t currently any Dáil representation.
Names mentioned internally in recent weeks include newly-elected Dublin city councillor Noel Rock, who is based in Ballymun, and could run in Dublin North West in the next election.
Also thought to be under consideration is councillor Kate O’Connell, who was elected to represent Rathgar-Rathmines in last month’s vote.
Fine Gael could also look at unsuccessful candidates in local elections with a number of party sources stating that Samantha Long, who ran unsuccessfully in Rathgar-Rathmines in last month’s local elections, is under serious consideration.
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Of course they will rearrange things to suit themselves Fascist Clowns.
You’d prefer incompetent and corrupt bumbling buffoons I guess?
Aren’t you describing Fine Gael there?
Enda has had such a week of important issues to deal with I don’t know how he can cope with the stress levels, he has to take jobs away from incompetent ministers and give them other jobs in which they have no experience and hope that works out. Then he has that Brooks lad causing trouble cuz he wants a job and now he can’t find someone for the senad job which isn’t really a job while the rest of the country has no jobs.
Does this not smack of dictatorship
Dear Lord …. here, take a look at the definition of “dictatorship” … http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictatorship
At least the current government are not ruling by decree, Yesterday in Spain the Partido Popular passed a decree changing 26 laws and amending 47 others that would be considered fitting of a dictatorship.
Wikipedia is not a dictionary but I know what you mean
Well Desmond i think you wiki link proves the point rather than disproving it, Enda is ruling by the blind fold method, Stuff happens but he never see it because it was the last crows fault.
*Crowd’s
Why doesn’t enda just abolish it all together to get his own way. And while his at it he can declare himself life time leader and we can all call him glorious leader.
I think you will find he proposed that already.
Why don’t they just appoint a clerk of the Dail, or is that just stating the obvious
Democracy at it’s best why not make Garth Brooks a Senator I am sure he would vote for Enda
When are FG going to rebound themselves “The National Socialist Party” and get it over with.
Why don’t paid government officials sign performance agreements…, fail to perform then dun an doras behind you
Is this law unconstitutional???
I’m surprised he thought the irish public were stupid enough to abolish the Seanad which is what he wanted, and to be honest I’m surprised the irish public didn’t fall for the aul “save 20 million abolish the Seanad trick”…. Maybe the ones who are stupid enough to fall for that shit are also the ones who could not be bothered to vote, maybe that’s why there pushing to lower voting age to 16,it’s easier to brainwash a school kid
I told you they’d not give you reform. All voting no did was protect a status quo so that next time you DONT elect someone to parliament in the fail election they may get a 100k salary n a seat in parliament anyway.
I loathe the current govt, but this article is a disgrace.
The headline falsely implies that the govt is stitching up the Oireachtas. Not so.
An honest headline would be”Govt wants by-election to fill vacant Seanad seat?”
This is the removal of a technical barrier to holding an election. The law does not currently allow a particular function to be performed by the deputy clerk, so the proposal is to allow that. No big deal … and probably a good idea, since even the Clerk was in post they could be ill or absent or incapacitated.
Sure, a replacement Clerk should have been appointed. But that’s a whole different ballgame from the subversion of democracy implied by your headline.
Dictatorship in Ireland
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