Coalition’s anti-Seanad campaign ‘dishonest’

Campaigning in the referendum on the abolition of the Seanad has kicked off in earnest, with parties on both sides accusing the other of misrepresenting the facts in support of their stance.

Fianna Fáil, which wants to preserve the Seanad, accused the Government, which wants to scrap it, of lying about the amount of money that would be saved by getting rid of the 60 senators. Fianna Fáil says just over €8m a year would be saved, while the Government has put the figure at €20m.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin used his speech at the annual commemoration of IRA leader Liam Lynch to challenge the logic behind the referendum and argue for reform rather than abolition.

“If it is passed, Ireland will be left with a political system which is uniquely weak in the democratic world,” he said. “No other country will have our combination of a dominant government, weak single-chamber parliament and local government with few powers.”

Mr Martin said the “most disgraceful claim so far” by the Yes side is that abolition would free up millions of euro for public services. “This is both dishonest and the opposite of the truth.

“Even the figures which the Government is using are untrue, with the promise of €20m every year being freed a deliberate misrepresentation of the truth,” he said.

Fine Gael director of elections Richard Bruton, who launched his party’s poster campaign yesterday, stood over the figures, arguing €8m was only the direct costs of salaries for senators and their staff, while the rest was running and equipment costs. “People should not be fooled about the No campaign’s motives to retain the Seanad,” he said. “When they talk about reforming the Seanad they really mean ‘keep things the same’.

“They know there has never been any reform of the Seanad in its 75-year existence despite 10 different reports being published recommending changes.”

With one month to go to the vote on Oct 4, a Millward Brown opinion poll shows the public almost evenly split, with 39% in favour of abolishing the Seanad and 40% wanting to retain or reform it.

A newly formed campaign group, calling itself One House, will be formally launched today when its chairman, Kieran Mulvey, chief executive of the Labour Relations Commission, will give its backing to a Yes vote. The group, which includes former government ministers Alan Dukes and Liz McManus, as well as prominent academics and journalists, was formed in opposition to a similarly structured Democracy Matters, which set up last May to back the No side.

Democracy Matters, which includes former government minister Michael McDowell and senator Katherine Zappone, criticised Fine Gael’s poster campaign and claimed its own members were “lukewarm” about the poll.