Dear Editor,
Exactly one year ago, the apex court of the country deemed the law stipulating the eligibility of voters in the Seanad Éireann elections, which has been in effect since 1937, to be inconsistent with the Constitution. The executive branch was instructed to promptly extend the Seanad voting body, which had remained restricted to graduates from Trinity College and the National University of Ireland. Regrettably, the government has only just drafted a preliminary plan for the Seanad Electoral (University Members)(Amendment) Bill 2024.
One might anticipate the government’s proposed law to be uncomplicated and concise, possibly spanning around a dozen pages. It would likely resemble the numerous preceding bills presented by the government and opposition in an effort to enlarge the Seanad voter base. Incredibly, this task has taken the government an entire year to just draft an overall plan.
Last year’s Supreme Court ruling provided the government an opportune moment to extend the right to vote in Seanad elections to all, as suggested in 2015 and 2018. Regrettably, Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, and the Green Party chose to do just the absolute necessary, but at an alarmingly slow pace.
This past week forwarded clear evidence of the government’s decision to withhold Seanad voting rights from the Irish citizens. Over 200 politicians from both the government and opposition rallied together to grant the government an additional Seanad seat, without the need for an electoral competition.
Despite expressing my readiness and eagerness to participate in the Seanad by-election and presenting numerous ideas to contribute, I was greeted with deafening silence from all political parties and most independents. This left me – the sole candidate seeking an election- unable to even compete in the by-election, with four signatures short of the necessary nine. The signatures I managed to obtain were from Independent Senators Alice Mary Higgins, Frances Black, Eileen Flynn, and Lynn Ruane.
The fact that a mere 218 individuals can dictate not only who secures a place in our national parliament, but also whether an election can even take place, is too bewildering to comprehend.
Following the decree from the Supreme Court, the deadline for new Seanad electorate legislation is slated for May 2025. The pivotal question posed to both the Government and Opposition factions is: Do they stand in solidarity with the Government’s recommended law confining voting rights exclusively to tertiary education graduates or will they advocate for democratic inclusivity and insist on improvement? Will they advocate for the fundamental tenet of democracy – each individual having a single vote? – Yours sincerely,
TOMÁS HENEGHAN,
East Wall,
Dublin 3.