Sinnott to hear of Seanad application

SEANAD REPORT: Disability rights campaigner Ms Kathy Sinnott is to be told today whether her application to run in next month's Seanad elections will be accepted.

Ms Sinnott (51) has been nominated by four Independent TDs to the labour panel, on which she is seeking to run in an effort to gain recognition for the unpaid work done by thousands of carers throughout the State.

She said it had been suggested to her that it would be more appropriate for her to run on the administration panel, which normally applies to people working in the social and voluntary sector.

However, she said, "I specifically want to run on the labour panel because I feel the issue I campaign on is a matter of labour. We are workers who save the State €3 billion a year."

A High Court judge is to adjudicate over all applications to the panel at Leinster House this morning. Ms Sinnott said she had been informed by a Seanad returning officer that the issue of her qualifications would be raised with the judge.

Ms Sinnott said she believed her status as an "organiser", which was required to run on the panel, had already been accepted.

"The only issue now is 'what is labour?', and that's a very fundamental issue to carers - whether we are social welfare recipients or workers whose contribution to society should be recognised.

"If my application is passed it will mean a significant recognition of our status. If it's rejected it's blatant discrimination."

Ms Sinnott was nominated to the panel by new Independent TDs Ms Marian Harkin, Mr Finian McGrath, Mr Seamus Healy and Dr Jerry Cowley.

Under Seanad election rules, any four members of the Oireachtas can nominate a candidate. Forty-three members of the Seanad are elected by members of the Oireachtas and county councillors to five vocational panels.

Ms Sinnott came to prominence two years ago when she won a case against the State for its failure to provide an education to her autistic son. The High Court judgment was, however, overturned by the Supreme Court.

She was one of the founders of the Association for the Severely and Profoundly Mentally Handicapped. She was also instrumental in the establishment of the Cork-based Hope Project in 1996.

She ran as an Independent in Cork South Central in the general election and was defeated by just six votes by Fianna Fáil TD Mr John Dennehy.