Coalition to block any delays to Seanad vote

The Government is taking steps to guard against any move by senators to block the referendum to scrap the Seanad.

The moves reflect anxiety in the upper ranks of Fine Gael and Labour that senators might disrupt the Coalition's timetable by exercising their right to delay legislation on the vote by 90 days.

The Government is keen to conduct the referendum before budget day on October 15th to minimise any threat of an adverse public response to cutbacks and tax hikes rebounding on the Seanad campaign.

With polling day now set to be in late September or early October, draft laws to conduct the referendum are likely to be rushed out after the Cabinet meets next Wednesday.

Informed sources said the Government will then attempt to guide the law through the Seanad in time to prevent the opening of a window in which senators could block the vote by delaying the legislation.

The Seanad does not have the power to vote down legislation outright, but any manoeuvre to prevent the referendum taking place on the Coalition’s chosen day would be politically damaging.

The Government has already spurned the demands of campaigners who sought to include an option of reforming the house so voters will be asked to scrap or retain the Seanad.

The planned referendum is the cornerstone of the Government’s effort to reform the political system. It is seen as a crucial test for Taoiseach Enda Kenny for it was he who championed abolition, both before and during the 2011 election.

Rumblings of disquiet in the Seanad about the referendum come as the Coalition pushes to enact contentious abortion legislation before the summer recess next month

Acute sensitivity within Fine Gael over abortion and the danger up to five TDs and Senators might defy the whip on the abortion legislation means that this too is seen as a barometer of the Taoiseach’s authority.

The Government is discreetly urging Fine Gael and Labour senators to toe the line over the Seanad referendum. However, the fact remains that many of them would lose both their job and the power they wield if the house is scrapped.

While it is anticipated in Government circles that party discipline will ultimately prevail, moves to close off any opportunity for senators to block the vote point to concern that success is not assured.

Two Coalition senators privately acknowledged that some of the Government side of the house are open to possibility of a manoeuvre to delay the legislation.

“I think it shouldn’t happen. There’s a good percentage chance that it will happen,” said one, a known Government loyalist.

The senator said suggestions that the Government may try to compensate for the loss of the Seanad by setting up a powerful new Dáil committee to scrutinise legislation went down badly in the house.

Senators argue that such a committee would simply replicate tasks already carried out by the Seanad.

The second senator said there will be clear demands in the Seanad for a very long, thoroughgoing debate, given the issues raised by the abolition of one of the houses of the Oireachtas. "It shouldn't be a yellow-pack practice, that you get three referendums for the price of one."

The Government plans another referendum on the same day to establish a new court of appeal, but it is also examining whether there should be other votes in light of the Constitutional convention report on the lowering of the voting age and lowering of the age for the presidency.