Give us a true chamber of the people

Minister Hayes made the best possible case recently for the retention of the Seanad, despite it being deeply flawed.

He said all legislation passed by Dáil Éireann has the presumption of being constitutional before it is passed to the Seanad and then on to the President.

Two examples spring to mind to question this statement.

Firstly, we voted in a recent referendum for “children’s rights”, when the constitution already offered them all the rights they ever needed.

Secondly, our constitution states the family home is inviolable, yet these past few weeks the Dáil passed legislation to evict families from their homes.

So, no minister, you may think all legislation passed by the Dáil is constitutional, but the rest of us know this not to be true.

Our country is now run by a few chosen ministers.

They have proven themselves to be open to corporate lobbying in passing this latest insidious central bank code. They want us to remove all obstacles to their decisions. It would be no country for old men.

Let’s keep the Seanad for now but how about working on a true chamber for the people? One man and one woman from every county who have truly shown they are for the people to be elected to a rotating council, to either approve of or veto governmental decisions.

Maybe they could meet in conclave once a month for a weekend session. Why not near Uisneach, Co Westmeath, the true centre of our great country, wkth a €10,000 per annum remuneration for this great honour, to include their expenses? I would like to see corporate lobbyists get their agendas through such a filter. We could set this up tomorrow.

Barry Fitzgerald

Lissarda

Cork