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— November - December 2009
On transforming the Senate
Dear Editor,
Politics can be such a wonderful hybrid, at once
deeply serious and yet simultaneously hilarious.
I have never cared for the word “gobsmacked”
but that’s the only word in the English language
to describe the expression on the face of the Fine
Gael leader in the Seanad, Frances Fitzgerald.
“Gobsmacked” or perhaps “Poleaxed” was how
she looked as Enda Kenny unburdened himself of
his back of the envelope notion to singlehandedly
eliminate % of the democratic representation
of the State, i.e. abolish the Seanad.
We have seen this kind of top of the head stuff
before, notably from Charlie McCreevy when he
landed us with the notion of decentralisation -
not fully thought out or costed. My own belief is
that far from solving the nation’s economic woes,
it’s very likely to actually cost money in terms
of golden handshakes, pensions, etc. However,
this apparently is Enda’s notion of leadership.
Nevertheless, there is no doubt whatever,
the Senate does need reform. At the very least,
Enda Kenny’s precipitate action has galvanised
the move to reform. The Senate would be trans-
formed if, following the lead of the university
constituencies, the ordinary members of the
other nominating bodies - the nurses, the trade
unions, architects, business organisations etc.,
could also vote for the appropriate represen-
tation on the different panels instead of leav-
ing the election of the majority of Senators in
the hands of a parochial-minded clique of less
than a thousand local authority members. This
would turn the Senate into what it was supposed
to be. The political parties have always resisted
this in their own interests. Indeed, Mr Kenny’s
own lack of altruism was illuminated when he
bewailed the abolition of the dual mandate. He
gave every appearance of thinking that double
jobbing, i.e. holding down both local authority
and Senate seats was a good idea.
The contempt felt by Government for the
Senate has been reflected by the promotion of
mediocre and incoherent persons to designated
positions within the House, while their often
unintelligible pronouncements on serious mat-
ters of State have been held up to ridicule in the
media. But the media themselves are also guilty
of endlessly recycling canards, a list of which
would be too tedious to give here.
Yours faithfully,
David Norris (Senator)
Seanad Éireann
Dublin .
On a painting of the
kiss of Judas
Dear Editor,
In your September issue, you showed what
appeared to be a jocose version of a Cóir leaflet,
with the words “Coming this Autumn to deface
lampposts and clog letterboxes near you”.
Cóir chose a painting of the kiss of Judas
quite deliberately. The event portrayed was no
jocose matter. It shows Judas selling his con-
science in exchange for thirty pieces of silver.
In Cóir’s view, this is what occurred when
we agreed to the Lisbon Treaty.
Yours faithfully,
Richard Greene
Chairperson, Cóir
Capel St,
Dublin .
Please address letters to: editor@villagemagazine.ie. Village reserves the right to edit letters.
Village offers a serious right of reply or clarification to readers.
McManus, John Magnier, Hugh Mackeown
and Dermot Desmond are tax exiles whose
greedily-withheld taxes would be more wel-
come than their advice.
Our economists too let us down. None of
them challenged the inflated growth fore-
casts that all the political parties subscribed
to at the last election, for example. Only
economists could have drawn up the “high-
way robbery” that is NAMA. Though some
economists have demurred, very few argue
against the need to feed the markets roaring
back into action. Few have learnt that neo-
liberalism – and not just neo-conservatism
- was a mistake.
We’re going to have to stop looking for solu-
tions from party politicians, business people
and economists. They don’t have them.
We are looking in the wrong places for solu-
tions to our crisis. In many cases, we are trawl-
ing for people in the last places we should be
looking. In a republic you should not look to
vested interests for solutions.
For this edition of Village, we asked a fairly
representative group of opinion-formers to
contribute a list of the people they think are (not
should be) most influential in Irish Society. We
print the aggregated lists at pp.-. There
were few surprises and there wasn’t much scope
for surprises. The list, particularly at the very
top, embodies the party politicians, broadcast-
ers and businessmen who caused and cheered
the problem in the first place.
More interesting still, perhaps, is whence
might come replacements for these time-servers.
Village favour s t he com munity, equ al it y, academic
and environmental sectors. We believe listening
to them will promote the long-term, quality of life,
the environment and equality. Certainly decisions,
even momentous decisions such as on NAMA and
An Bord Snip, taken without factoring in the con-
sidered views of these sectors will be deficient.
If we want new answers, we must stop ask-
ing questions - least of all the same questions
- of the same people.
village_oct_09.indd 6 27/10/2009 15:37:30
