Martin faces struggle in attempt to overhaul Seanad team

MICHEÁL MARTIN was facing a fresh test of his leadership last night over his attempts to transform Fianna Fáil’s Seanad team.

The Fianna Fáil leader — who only managed to return 20 TDs at the election — had signalled he wanted to use the upper house to give the party a younger, more relevant image.

However, veteran Fianna Fáil senators are believed to be digging in their heels at the prospect of being asked to stand aside to allow fresh faces, like the party’s political reform spokesperson Averil Power, to gain a national platform in the Seanad.

Mr Martin has been meeting with local councillors, who have a large influence over Seanad elections, to press his reform agenda for Fianna Fáil.

While Fine Gael is committed to holding a referendum on abolishing the upper house, a new Seanad will still be elected in April and sit for the remainder of this Oireachtas.

With no women in the rump Fianna Fáil Dáil party, Mr Martin is keen to get much more female representation into the Seanad.

But without control of the Taoiseach’s gift allocation of 11 senators, and with a heavily depleted local government base, Mr Martin faces an uphill struggle.

Fianna Fáil had 28 seats in the largely rubber-stamp, 60-member chamber after the last elections in August 2007, and operated a majority with its Green and Progressive Democrat partners.

Cavan-based Senator Martin Brady revealed he was one of a number of Fianna Fáil upper house members who had been written to by Mr Martin outlining his agenda to rebuild the party.

Mr Brady, a Taoiseach’s nominee in the out-going Seanad, said he took the intervention as a call not to launch a re-election bid.

The bulk of senators are elected by members of the new Dáil and the outgoing upper house, along with county and city councillors.

Voting for the 24th Seanad will take place at the end of next month.

Mr Martin shifted Fianna Fáil’s position on the upper house during the general election campaign, saying it would support the abolition of the Seanad if other proposals for the electoral reform were met.

The Seanad, which costs some €40m to operate, became a battle ground for political reform over the past year, with Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny at the forefront of calls for its abolition, which were then echoed by Labour.

The upper house was also under the spotlight after Senator Ivor Callely was expelled from Fianna Fáil after a Seanad committee found he had misrepresented his home in west Cork as his permanent residence in order to claim up to €81,000 in travel expenses.

The High Court later ruled the censure could not stand.

The court awarded Mr Callely €17,000 in lost earnings and compensation.

He had been suspended from the Seanad for 20 days.