We need a reformed Seanad to be an independent voice in Irish politics

Abolition is about a politics fearful of other ideas. Abolition would stymie the challenge to the dominance every Irish government has had over a directly elected Dáil and an indirectly-elected Seanad

THE democratic revolution promised in return for the largest government majority in the history of the State is subsiding in the campaign to abolish Seanad Éireann. Abolishing the Seanad is an out-sized counter-insurgency movement, not a revolution. It is attacking Ballymagash urban district council from inside the bouncy castle; Tea Party politics in a dirty mug.

Worlds apart, there is an eerie echo between how Syria is playing out ‘in’ Britain and the US and the campaign to abolish the Seanad. The common theme is the revival of effective parliamentary oversight, over government, in London and Washington. In Dublin, no such revival is in sight.