Sir, The Second Progress Report of the All Party Committee on the Constitution, dealing with reform of the Seanad, bodes ill for those of us who hoped that the process of constitutional review, initiated by the establishment of the Constitution Review Group, would address the serious problem of social exclusion in our society.
Two and a half pages of the AllParty Committee's ten pages of deliberations on reform of the Seanad are devoted to the issue of the composition of the Seanad. The Committee, which consists, incidentally, of nine TDs and two senators, recommended that IS members of the Seanad should be directly elected by the general electorate from the European Parliament constituencies, commenting: "This scheme would encourage the nomination of people who have contributed significantly to various aspects of our society. It could also provide a proving ground for aspirant MEPs." The Committee recommended that a further 28 members be elected by an electorate consisting of people who have been themselves elected by the people, 14 by the incoming Dail.
"This would provide opportunities for young, aspirant politicians and also facilitate the election of former members of the Dail who might wish to continue to be involved in national affairs and fourteen by members of county councils and county borough councils. Finally, a further six seats should be allocated to representatives of third level education and the Taoiseach should retain the power of appointing 11 senators.
These proposals attend nicely to the needs of our political elite. However, the Committee did not even advert to, never mind dismiss: (i) the recommendation of an individual member of the Review Group that emigrants, the unemployed and other welfare recipients, the elderly and minority groups such as travellers and persons with disabilities be represented in the Seanad and (ii) the observation in a report, commissioned by the All Party Committee itself, that [t]here is. . . a case for looking carefully at the capacity of the Seanad to act as a voice for special groups that might otherwise be kept at a distance from Irish political life, such as representatives of the Irish abroad, [and] of marginal groups within Irish society.
A case, one might say, of turning a deaf ear to the voiceless. - Yours, etc.,
Law School,
Trinity College Dublin.