The leader of the Seanad, Donie Cassidy, is to seek a meeting with the director general of RTÉ to discuss what he claims was the "appalling" coverage by the national broadcaster of the recent Seanad elections.
Senator Cassidy said yesterday that "something urgent must be done" about coverage which "was appalling to say the least, with no text information on any channel nor coverage in the hourly news bulletins".
Speaking during the inaugural session of the new Seanad, the Fianna Fáil Senator said RTÉ has a responsibility to give fair coverage to both Houses of the Oireachtas, "in particular to our activities as members and active participants in a democratic assembly working on behalf of the people of Ireland".
Senator Terry Leyden (FF)accused RTÉ of "completely ignoring" the Seanad election. "We are the organisation's licence holders and it did not fulfil its responsibility, placed on it by the Oireachtas, to cover an election to the upper house, whose 60 members represent 4.2 million people. "
An RTÉ spokeswoman said, in keeping with its public service obligations, there were a number of reports on the elections on radio and television, nine to 10 television reports and a Week in Politics special.
"However, the nature of the Senate elections does not lend itself to wider general coverage," she said. No request had been received so far for a meeting with the director general, Cathal Goan, but "he would consider such a request positively".
Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil Senator Pat Moylan was elected Cathaoirleach of the Seanad yesterday without a contest. He was proposed by Mr Cassidy and seconded jointly by the Green Party Senator Dan Boyle and the PD Senator Fiona O'Malley.
Politicians from all parties congratulated the Offaly-based Senator, a close associate of Minister for Finance Brian Cowen, on his appointment.
The Leas Cathaoirleach will be Fine Gael's Paddy Burke.
The leader of the Fine Gael group in the Senate is Frances Fitzgerald, while the leader of the Labour group is Alex White. The new Seanad has for the first time a Sinn Féin representative, Pearse Doherty. Fianna Fáil holds 28 seats, Fine Gael 14, Labour six, the Greens two, the PDs two and the Independents seven.
Mr Cassidy said Seanad reform was at the top of his agenda and promised major changes before the next elections. Independent Senator Shane Ross called for radical reform of the Seanad, saying it is seen as "a product of patronage or elitist elections".
"We are seen as self-perpetuating political insiders of the worst sort. It is no secret that the Seanad is elected by outgoing senators, county councils and the outgoing Dáil. This in itself opens us to criticism and difficulties that mean we look too much like political insiders, which we are."
He said senators were often seen as being the beneficiaries of outrageous political patronage, "the curse of Irish political life which permeates the appointment of judges, the ombudsman and members of semi-State bodies". There is no justification for certain third-level institutions having a right to elect senators while others do not.