Three former TDs running for Seanad supported abolition

Three of the 13 former TDs who lost their Dáil seats and are running for the Seanad spoke in favour of its abolition during the referendum campaign, a position the electorate rejected.

A number of other TDs and Senators spoke against abolition but followed party policy to vote for the Bill providing for the referendum to take place. Others equivocated and a number did not speak publicly on the controversial issue.

Acting Taoiseach Enda Kenny, made a shock announcement in 2010 when as opposition leader of Fine Gael, he declared his intention to hold a referendum on the abolition of the Seanad should Fine Gael be in government.

Fine Gael candidate Anthony Lawlor, a former TD for Kildare North told the Dáil in June 2013 that he supported the Bill “and (I) want to see the abolition of the Seanad”, but he feared “people will not give us as TDs the trust that is needed to have a really functioning Dáil Éireann”.

Speaking last week Mr Lawlor did not regret the position he took and voted for abolition as “it was part of Fine Gael policy”.

“We argued on a number of issues and some we lost and some we won. You have to take sides in a referendum and I lost on that one. You have to move on. I lost my seat and I have to move on.”

He said: “The people have spoken on it.” He said it needed to be changed but there was no point “being on the outside”giving out about it. It was better to be “inside arguing for change”.

Comment

Party colleague for Longford-Westmeath James Bannon told the Dáil debate that “abolition of the Seanad will result in savings of €45 million annually. Expecting redundancies in other areas of public service without setting its own house in order is the height of hypocrisy”.

Mr Bannon said last week he always supported the Seanad but when his remarks were quoted back to him he replied: “I’ll have to check it before I comment.”

Labour Minister of State and former Dublin North Central TD Aodháin Ó Riordáin told Newstalk in an interview just before the general election that, “I’m not going to kick around the Seanad for five years”.

His position had hardened since he addressed a meeting of former parliamentarians and he said: “I lean towards abolition but am happy to be open to persuasion”.

However also he believed that because the Dáil as a “directly elected body of the people has a huge body of work to do to connect . . . reforming the Seanad is a bridge too far. I say this reluctantly.” At the time of writing, Mr Ó Riordáin could not be contacted.

His party colleague Minister of State Kevin Humphreys was more equivocal on the issue in the run up to the referendum and said he was leaning towards a vote to abolish the house on polling day.

“I’m not firm yet on that. It’s not one that has been to the forefront of my mind in the last two years,” said Mr Humphreys.

He said last week that as a Minister of State he took the Seanad seriously, which he added not all Ministers did, and on a number of Bills had accepted amendments from Senators.

Fine Gael and Labour were officially in favour of abolition but most Senators at the time were against.