WHY I’M RUNNING FOR THE SEANAD

April 2016 3 1

Oisín Coghlan (NUI)

’m running to push climate action and social jus-

tice up the political agenda. Climate change is the

biggest challenge humanity faces. But our political

leaders downplay the need for action. And they are

failing to grasp the opportunities for Ireland in the

transition to a fossil free future.

I’m not naïve enough to think electing one Senator

who prioritises climate change will be enough to tip

the balance in favour of Ireland taking serious climate

action.

I’ve spent 20 years working for organisations cam-

paigning for progressive change of one sort or

another on issues from Israeli human rights abuses

in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, to Irish aid

and trade policy, to climate change. And it’s clear

from cases where Ireland has adopted a progressive

stance, whether on Apartheid, East Timor or overseas

aid that among the essential factors for success,

apart from a compelling cause, have been inspiring

and persistent campaigning and the mobilisation of

a big enough civil society coalition to outweigh what-

ever vested interests or bureaucratic inertia have

their ﬁngers on the other side of the scales.

But parliamentarians have a role too, amplifying

civil society voices, questioning ministers and ofﬁ-

cials, proposing legislation and policies. And Trinity

Senators in particular have a long tradition of using

the role as a campaigning platform.

Moreover, the

Seanad is not sup

posed to be a creature

of political parties,

they have simply used

the votes of local councillors to hijack the ‘vocational’

panels. The Seanad it is supposed to represent the

different strands of Irish society. I think at least one

of our 60 Senators should represent Ireland’s proud

tradition of global solidarity and the new imperative

of climate action. If elected I will be an energetic,

independent voice for a healthy environment, a

stronger democracy and a more equal society.

Oisín Coghlan is Director of Friends of the Earth,

Ireland. www.oisincoghlan.com.

UNIVERSITIES' SEANAD

ELECTIONS

illage is a campaigning magazine. Two of

its key agendas are equality and sustain-

ability. Two thoughtful and evidence-

based champions of these issues are respec

tively Oisín Coghlan of Friends of the Earth and

Rory Hearne of Tasc, standing for the Trinity and

NUI panels. We decided to give them some

space.

In the same spirit NUI voters might want to

avoid voting for Michael McDowell (strangely

endorsed recently by LGBTI campaigner, Kath-

erine Zappone TD, who – if she had any interest

in Equality would know better). McDowell, a

former AG and Minister for Justice who cam

paigned against the abolition of the Seanad in

the referendum on the issue in 2013 told the

Irish Times his campaign will focus on the need

to reform the Seanad and open up the election

to the entire voting population. He was the legal

advisor to the working group chaired by former

senator Maurice Manning, which recommended

sweeping changes in how the Seanad is elected.

To Village, however he will always be remem-

bered as an icon for the privileged attacking the

right of the not so lucky to equality. In 2004 he

told the Economist Survey of Ireland that he

“sees inequality as an inevitable part of the

society of incentives that Ireland has, thank

fully, become”. That seems to put him in the

disgraceful – and almost unique - position of

endorsing inequality. He also attempted to

remove Niall Crowley as activist CEO of the

Equality Authority, when he was Minister for

Justice. As regards anti-corruption McDowell

was responsible for subverting the Centre for

Public Inquiry so that it collapsed in 2005 as a

force for aggressive investigation of corruption.

Just as bad is the self-absorbed way he col-

lapsed the PDs, itself the most self-absorbed

economically right-wing force in Irish politics

when he, as leader, lost his Dáil seat.

In short he was a towering force for now

discredited deregulation and he should take the

consequences. McDowell has ugly baggage,

He should not be elected on a a platform that

attempts to re-invent him as primarily a force

for Seanad reform.

Just one of the three outgoing NUI senators,

Ronan Mullen, is seeking reelection. The other

two, Fergal Quinn and John Crown, are not run-

ning again.

Current Trinity Senators, Prof Ivana Bacik,

David Norris and Prof Sean Barrett are all stand-

ing again in this election. Norris, a long-term

campaigner on progressive issues, is the long-

est-serving senator on the panel, while Bacik is

Reid Professor of Criminal Law in the Law

School, and a former TCDSU President. She is

a solid and excellent candidate with an unim-

peachable record on both equality and the

environment; and she is a generous contributor

to Village.

The poll for the rotten Seanad boroughs of

Trinity and the NUI closes on 21 April.

Rory Hearne (Triniity)

here are 1600 children living in emergency

accommodation in Dublin alone and 8000 chil-

dren attended the Capuchin day centre to get a

hot meal last year. Tens of thousands of families face

the threat of eviction. At the same time the wealthi-

est in this country increased their wealth by €34bn

since 2010. We have a grossly unfair society where

the wealthiest 20% of households have 70% of all the

wealth in the country. This is not the Republic that

was aspired to in 1916 and it is certainly not a Repub-

lic that guarantees, as the Proclamation outlines,

“equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citi-

zens” and “cherishing all of the children of the nation

equally”. Successive governments since the founda-

tion of the state have failed to provide for the basic

social and human rights of all citizens – particularly

our most vulnerable and disadvantaged communi-

ties. Taoiseach after Taoiseach, political party after

political party, prioritised the needs of their big busi-

ness cronies and funders, developers, multinational

capital, the priviledged and wealthy in Irish society,

and through the austerity years, they prioritised the

banks, European ﬁnance and vulture funds. We need

a new approach to politics that prioritises social and

economic equality, social justice and true democratic

participation. It wasn’t an easy decision to stand. The

Seanad is elitist and undemocratic and has not been

given sufﬁcient powers to enable it to hold govern-

ment and the Dail to account. A major reason why the

Seanad has not been reformed to give all citizens a

vote and to give it real powers is that the majority of

Senators have been part of the political establish-

ment and have made no real efforts for reform or

progressive social change. So those of you who have

a vote in the Seanad NUI face a choice. You can use

your vote for a candidate like me who has demon-

strated his long term commitment to challenging the

consensus and campaigning for social justice. Or you

can allow another estab-

lishment conservative

or pretend progressive

politician to be elected

to the Seanad instead of

me. I have shown in my community work with Bar-

nardos in Dublin’s inner city, academic research and

publishing in Maynooth University and Trinity Col-

lege, active campaigning against inequality and

austerity with community groups, Right2Water and

Claiming Our Future, that I have the experience and

commitment to provide an independent voice for real

progressive reform and change in the Seanad. I will

use the Seanad to campaign for a more equal Ireland

and to stand up for housing, health, education,

Repealing the 8th, and affordable childcare.

Dr Rory Hearne works for Tasc and is a member of

People before Proﬁt.

www.roryhearne.ie

WHY I’M RUNNING FOR THE SEANAD