Offensive to hear our senators cling to jobs

IT is offensive to hear senators, out of touch with popular opinion, desperately cling to their jobs with vacuous arguments for retaining the Seanad.

Arguing that the Seanad allows for different voices and more scrutiny of proposed legislation actually argues in favour of Dáil reform. If the Dáil electoral system was changed to a list system to remove the clientelist, parish-pump, coffin chasing gombeens and allow for a broader range of more talented people to enter public life, and Dáil procedures changed to allow for more time to scrutinise legislation and hold the executive to account, what need would there be for a Seanad?

Arguing that because other countries also have senates, Ireland should too, ignores that some are federal or highly devolved countries which use their senate to provide equality of representation for their constituent regions. Others are monarchies or former monarchies where the senate represents, or used to represent, the aristocracy or intellectual elite. As Ireland is not a federal country, and is supposed to be a republic, this is a moot argument.

Ordinary people have so little respect for the Seanad, that when the referendum is held, it will have the biggest yes vote of any referendum. Senators looking to be elected to the Dáil should bear that in mind when knocking on doors over the coming weeks.

Jason FitzHarris

Swords

Co. Dublin