Taoiseach rejects FG proposal to abolish Seanad

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen has rejected a Fine Gael proposal to abolish the Seanad to save money.

Mr Cowen said while the Government was committed to the issue of both Dáil and Seanad reform, he didn’t believe such reform should involve scrapping the latter.

“To be perfectly honest, I believe that we do need to maintain our democratic institutions in this country,” he said. “I think now more than ever, in difficult times, democratic accountability is important.”

The coalition agreed in the revised Programme for Government to set up an Independent Electoral Commission to examine the issues of Oireachtas reform.

No date has been given for its establishment, but Mr Cowen said he was happy to leave the specifics of reform to the commission.

“The question of reforms and improvements is something to which I will give support in terms of the electoral commission being asked to look at this dispassionately and objectively now, rather than me coming forward with a particular position at this time,” he said.

When put to him that the Government had been very slow to address the need for reform, he replied: “You vary your democratic institutions with great care.”

But while Mr Cowen was insisting the Seanad needed to be maintained, one of his ministers took a different view. Asked if there was still a role for the Seanad, Transport Minister Noel Dempsey said: “I’m notreally sure that there is, at this stage.”

If the Seanad was to be maintained, it would need “drastic reforms”, particularly in the way it was elected, he stressed.

But Mr Dempsey agreed with Mr Cowen that the electoral commission was the best method of examining the issue.

The debate was kick-started by Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny, who promised to cut the number of TDs by at least 20 and hold a referendum to abolish the Seanad if returned to government.

In his address to the annual Fine Gael presidential dinner on Saturday night, Mr Kenny said such measures would save an estimated €150 million over the five-year term of a Dáil.

“I believe the Seanad should be abolished and the next Fine Gael government will put this to the people. I have come to the conclusion that a second house of the Oireachtas can no longer be justified,” he said.

“In abolishing Seanad Éireann, I have examined the outcome of similar decisions in countries such as Sweden, Denmark and New Zealand. Our two-house Oireachtas is an odd man out in Europe. Two-thirds of all European parliaments are unicameral. Those that are not tend to be large or federal,” Mr Kenny added.

“A Fine Gael government will also seek to reduce the number of deputies in the Dáil by at least 20. We will also review the electoral system with a view to allowing for the election of a limited number of people with particular expertise gained outside of politics.”

There are currently 166 TDs, whose basic salary is €101,190 a year. There are 60 senators, whose basic salary is €70,133.