Seanad costs pittance compared to our debt

The failures of our political system were a major contributor to the Irish banking crisis, necessitating the €64bn bailout. That is €13,457 for every man, woman and child.

The Government is citing the €20m of savings, or €4.21pa for every man woman and child, for closing the Seanad. The people can bear the additional cost until we get proper political reform.

Too few of our politicians focus on national issues; we have a system of local politics. Our TDs are social workers, forced, through multi-seat constituencies, to ignore national issues, such as developing the economy and making laws and regulations. Even Ministers and taoisigh have to commit much of their time to local issues, for fear of losing the next election. We want our taoisigh, ministers, and TDs to focus on national issues.