Mitchell Urges Caution on Seanad Abolition

Fine Gael Dublin South TD, Olivia Mitchell, has today (Tuesday) expressed her reservations about the abolition of the Senate.  

Speaking in Dáil Éireann on the Thirty-second Amendment of the Constitution (Abolition of Seanad Éireann) Bill 2013 Deputy Mitchell said: “I certainly don’t dispute the need for reform and I know there is a perceived need and temptation in difficult times to streamline everything, even democracy. But abolishing the Senate is fairly dramatic and far reaching.

“Reform should be done in a coherent way, by establishing what we want to achieve and identifying all the elements of change required. Right now without knowing what might replace it or what other reforms might come in tandem with abolition, it isn’t clear to me how politics, our political process or the national welfare will be informed by the abolition of the Senate.

“Proposals to strengthen the committee system and pre and post legislation scrutiny are welcomed but I believe there needs to be a debate about what these mean. Recent changes to the committee system have relegated committee stage of every bill to be debated in the Dáil basement out of the public eye, and has allowed for only a handful of committee members to be able to put amendments forward. This I believe is a diminution of democracy and not a reform or enhancement.
“No discussion of a new politics can take place without consideration of our multi seat constituencies and of a possible move to a list system. This is a harder bullet to bite but no one can deny that our electoral system has a detrimental effect on our governance.

“We need change that goes beyond just cutting out the Senate but piecemeal change is not the way to go. For instance we are introducing gender quotas to encourage female participation but the Dáil sitting arrangements are working to discourage it and indeed are anti-family generally, even for men. Sitting till midnight, short notice sittings and cancellation of breaks all make it extremely difficult for parents to plan child minding. Therefore if we really want more women members and real reform we need to look at the whole organisation of the Dáil.

“I am not wedded to the concept of the Senate and certainly not as it is currently operating. I welcome the opportunity for the people to have their say and for a real debate on our politics and political system, but I would most certainly urge caution until we have a clear and coherent overall vision of where we are going.”