Taoiseach's nomination of senators should go into 'dustbin of history'

Vote trading by parties in elections for the Seanad's vocational panels is "the closest the Irish political system gets to having rotten boroughs", a parliamentary sub-committee has heard.

Green Party TD, Mr Dan Boyle, said any reform of the Upper House would have to put "as much distance as possible" between such unacceptable practice and "a truly democratic system" of election.

Mr Boyle called for elections to the Seanad to be extended to all Irish citizens voting from a "regionally-based list system" of candidates, perhaps using the European Parliament constituencies.

Fifty-two seats would be filled on this basis, with the remaining eight divided equally between a Northern Ireland list and one voted by Irish citizens overseas.

The Greens' plan would scrap the existing system of vocational panels, university constituencies, and the Taoiseach's right to nominate 11 senators. This last provision was "the greatest anomaly in (the Seanad's) composition", Mr Boyle said.

"It is an example that isn't repeated in any second house of any other functioning democracy, (and) a practice that should be consigned to the dustbin of history at the soonest possible opportunity."

Among other submissions made to the committee yesterday was one arguing that the public not only be included in the Seanad electorate, but that citizens should have up to three votes each.

The proposal came from the barrister and political commentator Mr Noel Whelan, who called for the extension of the vocational panel system to the point where most citizens would qualify for several constituencies. Three would be the limit, however, and anyone qualifying for more than that number would have to make a choice.

This system would reflect the complexity of people's lives, acknowledging family, work, cultural and other interests.

He said it would maintain and dramatically enhance the vocational and social nature of the Seanad's representation.

And it would create "a directly-elected Upper House with a genuine democratic mandate, but with a mandate distinct from that of Dáil Éireann".

Such a scheme might appear administratively difficult, Mr Whelan said, but, in the era of sophisticated database maintenance, should be relatively straightforward.

The system would be much less complicated than the CAO college applications process, he added.

In another submission, the Irish Auctioneers and Valuers Institute criticised the apparent presumption that emigrants and people from Northern Ireland should be represented in a reformed Seanad other than by Taoiseach's nomination.

Arguing that only those who live in the Republic should have direct representation, the institute's submission said: "The Seanad is a costly house run for, and paid for by, the population of the Republic of Ireland.

"There is an old political adage of no representation without taxation: i.e., those who pay to run a country should elect its representatives."