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WHILE THE DUST is still settling on the general election, and we await the outcome of efforts to form a government, another election is already underway.
We’re talking about the election for the Seanad, the upper house of the Oireachtas which the people voted to retain in a referendum in October 2013.
You may remember that during that referendum campaign there was much talk of saving the Seanad and reforming it, including widening the electorate so as that more people would be allowed to vote for senators.
Nearly three years on there has been no reform, which means the 2016 Seanad election will run along the same lines of those in the past with the electorate for the majority of seats in the upper house being a small fraction of the population of Ireland.
It’s a complex system that requires a bit of explaining.
What is the Seanad?
The Seanad is the upper house of the Oireachtas and forms one third of the Irish legislature. The Dáil, the lower house, and the President make up the other two-thirds.
The Seanad is not directly-elected by the people, but contains a mixture of members elected through various methods. To run for the Seanad, an Irish citizen must be over 21.
It is not as powerful as the Dáil and can only delay laws with which it disagrees by a total of 90 days. It cannot stop them. It has no powers to delay a budget, but it can initiate legislation.
What’s the makeup of the Seanad?
There are 60 members. Eleven of them are nominated by the Taoiseach of the day, six are elected by graduates of Trinity College Dublin and the National Universities of Ireland and 43 are elected from five special panels of nominees, known as vocational panels, by a small electorate of politicians.
This vocational panel stuff sounds complex…
That’s because it is. There are five panels, made up of candidates who are said to have knowledge and experience of the following areas:
Anyone wishing to be nominated to run for one of the panels can do it in one of two ways. They can either be nominated by one of the hundreds of registered organisations and interest groups on this list, or they can be nominated by four TDs or outgoing senators.
Those nominated by an organisation or interest group are part of what’s known as the nominating bodies sub-panel, while those nominated by four TDs or senators are part of the Oireachtas sub-panel.
Each of the five vocational panels must elect a minimum number of candidates from each of the two sub-panels. For example, the 11-seat Labour panel must elect a minimum of four candidates from the nominating bodies sub-panel and a minimum of four candidates from the Oireachtas sub-panel.
Still with us?
Just about. So who can vote for these panels?
The electorate is tiny. It consists of members of the incoming Dáil, the outgoing Seanad and city and county councillors.
That’s a total electorate of 1,167 people but this may vary slightly as some local authority seats are currently vacant due to councillors being elected to the Dáil. By contrast, around 3.2 million people in Ireland were eligible to vote in the general election last month.
Ballot papers for the vocational panels will be issued on 11 April and the poll will close on 25 April at 11am. Each politician has a vote on each of the five vocational panels. So, Joe Bloggs TD will receive a ballot paper for each of the five panels and mark his candidates in order of preference on each paper. It’s like having five ballot papers for a Dáil election.
What about those university panels?
Six senators are elected by two university panels. Three by graduates of University of Dublin i.e. Trinity College Dublin, and three by graduates of the National University of Ireland, including institutions like UCC, UCD, Maynooth, NUI Galway, the Royal College of Surgeons, and several other colleges and training institutions.
To be nominated to run for one of the panels, a candidate must obtain the signatures of 10 graduates from the university in question. Unlike the vocational panels, nearly all the candidates running for the university panels are independents rather than affiliated to a party. Labour’s Ivana Bacik, who is running for re-election on the Trinity panel, is one of the few exceptions this time around.
The electorate for each of these two panels is a lot larger than the vocational panels. It’s estimated that around 53,000 people are eligible to vote for the Trinity panel and 110,000 people are eligible to vote for the NUI panel.
The electoral roll is maintained and updated by the two universities. Ballot papers were issued earlier this week and the poll will close on 26 April.
But how many graduates actually vote in these elections?
Turnout hasn’t been great in recent times. In 2011, 33,831 people voted in the NUI election or around a third of the eligible voters. In the Trinity election the turnout was 15,557 or 29% of those eligible to vote. Often graduates may have changed addresses from their student days, or emigrated. There’s also a high proportion who probably don’t care that much.
It’s also worth nothing that some politicians who are graduates of Trinity or NUI essentially have two opportunities to vote. This is why Fine Gael minister and Trinity graduate Leo Varadkar is endorsing independent Averil Power for election to the Trinity panel. He can still use his Fine Gael votes for the vocational panels and not upset his party colleagues.
A limited electorate, poor turnout. Why on earth has it not been reformed?
Talk of reforming the Seanad has been around for years, particularly since it was saved from abolition in 2013. But a radical overhaul would likely require a referendum as the rigid make-up of the upper house is constitutionally enshrined.
That said, the people voted in a 1979 referendum to expand the franchise for the university panels so that every third level graduate could have a vote for these six seats. The only problem is that no government has ever implemented it. The outgoing coalition drafted legislation in the wake of the 2013 referendum, but it never came before the Dáil.
Last year, the Seanad Working Group on Reform, set up by the government, proposed that 30 of the vocational panel seats be elected by popular vote with all Irish passport holders, including emigrants, eligible to vote.
The remaining 13 seats would continue to be elected by politicians, while the electorate for the six university seats would be expanded to all third level graduates in line with the 1979 referendum.
At the time, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said the report was “innovative and radical, and contains some far-reaching recommendations to the way members are elected to the Seanad, and on how the Seanad should perform its functions”.
Then he and the government did nothing. Like, nothing.
So we’re stuck with this important branch of the legislature that is only elected by a tiny minority of the population?
Yes, although expect to hear many of those seeking votes in this Seanad election to talk about wanting to reform the upper house.
But the reality is that reforms outlined by the working group will only come about through the implementation of legislation by the government. It’s unlikely that Seanad reform will be high on the agenda of the incoming administration.
So what’s going to happen in this Seanad election?
Because city and county councillors form such a large part of the electorate for 43 vocational panel seats, the results of the 2014 local elections are quite important. In these elections, Fianna Fáil won 267 seats, Fine Gael 235, Sinn Féin 159, Labour 51 and smaller parties won 237 seats.
There are various predictions and permutations. At a rough guess, with a strong health warning, we can expect that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael will divide 30 seats between them, with the former winning more than the latter. Sinn Féin will hope to get all seven of its nominees elected, while Labour will hope to win around three seats. Independents and others will expect to take the other three.
Almost all the candidates running for the university panels are independents and on various points of the political spectrum. A full list of candidates is here, and we’ll be telling you about some of the more interesting names running in a later article.
As for the 11 nominees of the Taoiseach. That will, of course, depend on who the Taoiseach is. In 2011, in the spirit of new politics, Enda Kenny appointed a largely independent group of senators including the likes of Katherine Zappone, Jillian van Turnhout and Martin McAleese.
Given that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil will be neck-and-neck on the vocational panels and the real prospect of the next government being in the minority in the upper house, it’s unlikely the next Taoiseach will be as bipartisan as Kenny was in 2011.
So when will we know the outcome?
In terms of the vocational and university panels, the 49 seats should be filled by the conclusion of the week ending 29 April. By that stage, we might even have a government and a Taoiseach who can appoint people to the remaining 11 seats.
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Dont vote for Aodhan O Riordan who wanted to abolish the Seaned. But he wants to keep his snout in the trough now and has decided its a great place after all
Sinead.who exactly are you asking not to vote for him..them pigs have drink straight from the gravy boat..they won’t even see your comment.
It still annoys me when I see articles relating to the Seanad that we missed our one chance to get rid of it. I remember friends of mine arguing how it’s the only way to stop Enda Kenny having total control! Such clowns, it made no difference whether the Seanad was there or not he still had total control!
Jack..please explain how we could have gotten rid of the seanad.
They are all one and the same and like to keep the status quo.
We voted to retain it Sparky.
W⚓s!
Sparky, where were you on 4 October 2013?
Nigel Farage wants to get rid of the EU parliament and he sits in it. It seems to me there’s no more legitimate person to argue for the abolition of the Seanad than someone who stands to lose a salary by its abolition.
The Seanad was only saved Jack by the promise of reform. One if the many promises broken by tgis Government. An active upper house with powers to stop budgets legislation etc would be good for the country which is why it was saved.
Will the Labour Party be putting Maria Cahill forward, our has she run he course for them.
Outlived her usefulness with 30 Labour ex-TD’s looking for somewhere to sit at the trough.
The industrial and commercial panel will never recover if she goes…
Ex tds should not be allowed in Senate reform it or abolish it,it is undemocratic that the public cannot vote.
Have long argued the same..Seanad should off limits to former TDs..and dail eireann should be off limits to sitting senators..
All I need to know about election to the Seanad,certain ministers who wanted to abolish it not want to get elected to to it..if it smells like bisto,it is bisto.
“Now.”
The Seanad or the upper house should have nothing to do with the lower house. The way we currently do it is a farce stuffing it full of failed politicians that failed to get elected.
Like everything the outgoing government did the needed reform was a complete failure but is masked by the farce they called a referendum. Kenny tries to blame the people for the lack of reform and value to this house but the reality is that it is Fine Gael policies that have prevented the reform of this part of our government,
On another note well done to the people of Detroit that have seen their water distribution services returned to where it belongs in the control of elected officials and the people of Detroit.
Some of the old parasites are resurfacing on denistalk,newstalk I meant sorry,and Rte recently.Hoors were voted out first time round and chancing their ego’s again at the last trough saloon.
Don’t know why they’re being given so much air time.
Almost as if Irish media don’t want O’Riordain and Averil Power to disappear off the radar.
Easy PC soundbites.
The article could have been a lot shorter. Politicians vote for their mates and party colleagues who weren’t good enough to win a Dail seat.
University panels…
The self perpetuating elite.
…..a place for failed and useless policitions to hide out for 5yrs.
2nd Division….the failed chancers
How much is the salary us it €64000 plus expenses or just €64000 Figure is not in article
Top 10 Seanad salaries and expenses 2011-2015 (€)
Name Party Total
Paddy Burke Fine Gael 578,414.92
Denis O’Donovan Fianna Fail 512,737.07
Maurice Cummins Fine Gael 464,461.66
Tom Sheahan Fine Gael 437,252.60
Terry Leyden Fianna Fail 429,541.98
Marc Mc Sharry Fianna Fail 420,394.38
Mark Daly Fianna Fail 416,326.22
John Whelan Labour 414,450.37
Fidelma Healy Eames Fine Gael 409,672.57
Brian Ó’Domhnaill Fianna Fail 409,183.06
http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/politics/irelands-political-expenses-shame-uncover-5863670
Altogether between March 2011 To July They have been paid close to 100 Million
166 TDs have been paid €78 million, an average of around €470,000 each over the 41-month period for their work, which equates to around €138,000 per year in salary, taxable allowances and expenses
Another €19.8 million has been paid out to 60 Senators, with each of them receiving on average €330,000 between March 2011 and July 2014. That equates to around €97,000 in total remuneration per senator per year.
March 2011 to July 2014 *
Ireland’s ‘best-kept secret’: 12 senators receiving €23k annual ‘leaders’ allowance’
Thats some amount of money for politicians that can do little more than raise taxes and fill the state coffers and then call that success.
They don’t even do that, Adrian. The Senate can delay a bill for a maximum of 90 days, and can propose legislation which the Dail is not obliged to acknowledge or implement. I am still chagrined that my fellow citizens voted to retain this fall back trough at the expense of us all.
Doesn’t matter what Happens The Crooks are still running the Show
Cant believe its still there.
I suppose the sensible thing to do would be to suspend the seanad, reform the dail, get that working properly, then reform the seanad, but thats not gonna happen. When you’ve got underperforming politicians in the dail, and when most people made their vote in the election a protest vote, and then election rejects can enter the seanad, well then thats just a massive insult to the people of ireland.
Oh yeah! You all really gave Enda & Co a drubbing by keeping an undemocratic money pit, full of hasbeens and unelectables that costs tens of millions a year to keep! Reform was never on the agenda… and it’s not likely to be if it means failed politicians and niche candidates elected by a handful will miss out on a ride on the gravy train.
You had your chance to get rid and you blew it!
But people didn’t want to get rid of it, they wanted it reformed and still do. You can’t reform something that has been abolished.
What is the Seanad?
It’s an extra first-class carriage on the Gravy train for supporters and lackies of the ruling elite.
You get in there you’re laughing!
An option to reform was never on the cards…so it was better to have a straight yes or no…but the likes of zappone and norris tried to cling on to their lavish handout from the state by claiming they would could reform the senad…it wasnt in their gift to it…unfortunately too many of ye fell for it…the reward for zappone was a seat in the dail…well done ireland
Such a waste of time – any org that allows Rónán Mullen to have a voice needs to be shut down
Smart move putting the referendum on the same day as the overwhelmingly popular vote for gay rights. I think if it was voted on again it would be bye bye retirement home for failed politicians.
No it wasn’t on the same day
I haven’t lived in Ireland in 30 years and I would have voted to abolish the Seanad if I had a vote in that referendum. Now, as a TCD grad, I can vote in the Seanad election, which really makes no sense. My ballot paper arrived yesterday, who should get my number 1?
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