Boyle: No poll on Seanad abolition

GREEN PARTY chair Dan Boyle has poured cold water on suggestions the Government will hold a referendum proposing the abolition of the Seanad on the same day as the general election.

While the issue will be discussed by Cabinet, Mr Boyle suggested that the shortage of time between now and the election, as well as the fact that the Government’s focus is on the Finance Bill, would rule out such a referendum.

“I think it’s unlikely,” Mr Boyle posted in a message on his Twitter social networking page yesterday.

Senator Boyle also said the Greens were not in favour of abolishing the upper house. “Our policy is a reformed Seanad, publicly elected,” he said.

However, even if the Government does not arrange for a referendum on election day, Fine Gael and Labour have pledged to hold such a vote if they are returned to power.

While much of the political establishment seems to be falling in line with the public mood, which sees little value in the Seanad, one senator warned it would be a mistake to abolish the institution. Independent senator Joe O’Toole, who is not seeking re-election, admitted the Seanad as it currently stood was “undemocratic”, “unrepresentative”, and “indefensible”. He said the Seanad had originally been envisaged as a place where people from civic society would be offered a voice, meaning it would be a “bridge” between public and political establishment.

The main parties had never allowed that to happen.

Abolishing it would represent a “diminution” of democracy, he warned.

“In Europe in a recession, whether it be in Italy with Mussolini, whether it be in Germany with Hitler, whether it be in Spain with Franco, the first thing that happens in a recession is that people start cutting back on political accountability.”