Callely scandal highlights need for Seanad reform
LET me make it clear at the outset of this article that I do not gloat in, or seek personal political advantage from, the disgrace of any colleague.
The present situation is clearly a tragedy for Senator Ivor Callely and his family, be it one of his own making.
Only the most ghoulish of Grub Street muck-rakers could take any pleasure in what is remorselessly unfolding.
I believe that the best and only course for Senator Callely now is to resign immediately and face the difficult task of rebuilding his life and reputation.
We have already had the unedifying spectacle of the revelation that Senator Callely was claiming over a short number of years for travel and subsistence allowances for the holiday home in west Cork to the tune of €80,000.
To make it worse, this is at a time when ordinary Irish citizens were reeling under the impact of wage cuts, levies, cutbacks in the provision of service, and the most precarious employment situation in living memory.
And this is accompanied by the destruction of the Combat Poverty Agency and the slashing of budgets for the Equality Authority and the Human Rights Commission by the Government of which Senator Callely was a former minister and currently a backbench supporter in Seanad Éireann.
On top of this there are now very specific allegations that Senator Callely claimed and received an additional €3,000 from the taxpayer for the acquisition and installation of car telephones on foot of supporting documentation from companies that had in fact gone out of business some years before the relevant period.
To the average observer these fresh allegations, if sustained, require to be fully investigated by the gardaí.
It would in any case be highly inappropriate for anyone caught up in such matters to remain part of the Senate during its deliberations of the further swingeing cuts that will inevitably form part of the next budget.
Recent years have seen a catalogue of disasters for Senator Callely, starting with the revelation that a large and well-known building firm that had been engaged in state contracts had very generously redecorated his home.
No criminal impropriety on either side was demonstrated but there was a certain queasiness in political circles. It is astonishing that Senator Callely appears to have learned nothing from the nasty publicity that resulted. Like some of his political colleagues, including Taoisigh Charles Haughey and Bertie Ahern and others, he has displayed an ability to squirt out a torrent of impenetrable verbiage that he appears to believe provides him with both immediate impunity and immunity from further scrutiny.
The revelations concerning Senator Callely’s expenses have led to further calls for the abolition of the Senate and unless a clear, radical and meaningful reform is undertaken it will be difficult to resist such calls.
Even in its present form, the Senate has justified the comparatively insignificant expense it incurs. In the Callely affair it was possible to feel proud of the behaviour of some colleagues.
Senators Joe O’Toole, Alex White and Dan Boyle, used the Senate inquiry to dissect forensically in cross-examination the infelicitous, linguistic screen erected by Mr Callely. It takes moral courage to face a fallen comrade in such a situation.
Apart from that, working away unnoticed and almost universally unreported in the media, the Senate has scored some notable advance recently.
In the NAMA debate Joe O’Toole, seconded by myself, secured the passage of half a dozen significant amendments that the Dáil had failed to achieve. A few weeks later a series of amendments to the bio fuels bill, this time tabled by myself, were successful. These will provide up to 1,000 jobs in the Waterford area.
Most recently we have had the passage of the civil partnership bill. This proposal was first mooted in the upper house, and there has been general agreement the debate in the Seanad was especially fine both in rhetoric and substance.
So, if we don’t abolish what kind of reform is necessary? Many people have been kind enough to pay tribute to the work done over the years by members of the university panel. The reason for this value for money is that they are the only members democratically elected, with an electorate of 60,000 graduates in Trinity and twice that in NUI.
By contrast the last election under the political panel system had an election of a mere 227 voters. Add to that the 11 members nominated at the whim of the Taoiseach without even the pretence of an election and you have a recipe for disaster.
Under the leadership of Senator Donie Cassidy the business of the Seanad is a shambles. We never know the hour of the day when we shall meet and when we do we may find a full week with nothing other than a series of flatulent statements and no legislation.
I returned myself early from Madrid a few weeks ago so as not to miss parliamentary business only to find the Senate cancelled.
It is heartbreaking for that core of us from all sides of the House who genuinely do the work to witness the inane frolicking of some of our colleagues.
We need a revision of the nominating bodies, enfranchisement of their ordinary membership so that nurses, architects, lawyers and farmers can all have a vote.
We need back-up services to assist us in the drafting of legislation and amendments.
We need the tools to do the job in a serious and efficient manner, otherwise it would be better to close up shop and scrap the Seanad altogether.
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