Chris Patten’s experience in Hong Kong could help Seanad reformers

MARY O’ROURKE, in her capacity as Leader of Seanad Éireann, should invite Chris Patten to Dublin for a chat.

Chris Patten is probably better known here as the chair of the commission which authored the Patten report on policing in Northern Ireland published the year before last. As it happens he is also the European Commissioner for External Relations. However, it is not for either of these reasons that I am recommending that the Leader of the Seanad should invite Patten to Dublin.

As well as being leader of the Seanad, Mary O'Rourke is also chair of a sub-committee which is reviewing the composition and functions of the Seanad. It is in this task that Chris Patten may be able to offer her and her committee some advice.