After scrapping the Seanad, Kenny should then cut the number of TDs

THEY might not quite constitute a “new Republic”, but Fine Gael’s proposals for constitutional reform, to be launched by Enda Kenny today, deserve to be debated seriously.

He might not appreciate the comparison but, like David Cameron in Britain, Kenny is using his battle for reform of the way politics is conducted as a signal that he’s serious about all the other reforms the country needs: “Anyone who can cut the number of politicians can cut the number of bureaucrats too” is his pitch.

It’s clever politics: only 60 jobs are on the line. Promise before an election you are going to savage the semi-states, for instance, and lots of votes are at stake. Constitutional reform, on the other hand, is almost cost-free and if Fianna Fáil were clever, they would immediately adopt the package as their own and move on to the next business.