Short-sighted to vote against reform

The Seanad may not beperfect, but the binarysolution presented bythe Coalition deprivesthe country of a vitalinstitution, says Conor O’Mahony

WE are told many things about the Seanad. Some of them contain some truth, some do not.

Certainly, not all of them can be true at once. For example, we are told the Seanad is elitist, but we are also told it is a refuge for aspiring and failed TDs. That is a strange kind of elite, and means that the Seanad is no more and no less elitist than the Dáil, since its ranks are filled from the same pool.