Seanad Éireann - should it stay or should it go?

[Shamrock Shore]

Well boys and girls.

How will ye be voting next month?

On one hand I can see what we need to get rid of this shower as 99% of them are goms, only university graduates plus politicans and a few others get a vote etc but on the other hand there have been good Senators in the past (Lady Norris, Fergal Quinn, WB Yeats) and I can see why one would vote to keep things as they are.

Do you believe abolition will save 20 mill per annum? I don't. The so-called savings will just get sucked into the big cesspit that is Leinster House.

Anyhoo have your say on this ifin you like.

[muppet]

Eoghan Harris.
Ivor Callelly.


Unicameral for me.

[An Gaeilgoir]

Retain and Reform............will reform happen, most likely not..........but this recession is been used to centralise more and more power for the few, it can never be a good thing....

In the fifties, we ripped up the railways and tram lines............60 years later we are relaying them............

[tyronefan]

What benefit is the Senate to the country.  They are costing the state a fortune and it is only a talking shop with no power to do anything.
We have far to many people in government doing nothing as it is so losing a few wont do any harm

[LeoMc]

Replace both houses with Lawnseed, he will start the dung out.

[Maguire01]

What benefit is the Senate to the country.  They are costing the state a fortune and it is only a talking shop with no power to do anything.

What do you mean 'no power to do anything'?

[armaghniac]

The Seanad costs €5 per capita. In the 1930s when the country actually was poor and when the state had two-thirds of the population of today, they felt that government was worth expenditure of having a Senate. There is a real question of the structure of these institutions, but there needs to be some sense of reality.

[seafoid]

Political reform is required urgently. Dumping the seanad is cosmetic though.

[lawnseed]

Replace both houses with Lawnseed, he will start the dung out.

exactly during the "dungout" the country will be run by a group of 16, four from each province and the army, remember to adhere to the curfew times because there may be some shooting while the traitors are gathered up for transportation to a country of their choice (mostly north Korea). also townies will provided with wellies for gathering spuds on my new 400 acre estate that I intend to claim in the name of the new Irish state. (the present owner is a prod but we know how to handle him) my sons are beginning to show an interest in farming so they may also require some labourers for their land also I'll get a manager to run it until they're  12 or 13yrs.
there you have it I've already eased the burden on the public purse by getting rid of sliveen politicians and bankers etc.. and created gainful employment for hundreds of unemployed townies

[Eamonnca1]

Eoghan Harris.
Ivor Callelly.


Unicameral for me.

I see your Eoghan Harris and Ivor Callelly and I raise you Mick Wallace and Willie O'Dea.

Bicameral for me.

[Eamonnca1]

What benefit is the Senate to the country.  They are costing the state a fortune and it is only a talking shop with no power to do anything.
We have far to many people in government doing nothing as it is so losing a few wont do any harm

So you trust the Dail to get all legislation right without any oversight?

Granted this Seanad in its present form doesn't do much, but only because the government can sew the whole thing up with its own appointees.

I say retain and reform, give it some teeth and make it more effective.

[Farrandeelin]

Nicely put Eamon. That's my own view on the matter as well. I think there will be an awful low turnout because people don't have the appetite for this sort of stuff.

[All of a Sludden]

As Eamonn says retain and reform.

[seafoid]

The executive makes all the decisions. They could just as easily get rid of the Dail for all the difference it would make.
The whole political system is broken.

[muppet]

Eoghan Harris.
Ivor Callelly.


Unicameral for me.

I see your Eoghan Harris and Ivor Callelly and I raise you Mick Wallace and Willie O'Dea.

Bicameral for me.

Bertie appointed Harris & Callelly to the Seanad.

The people voted for Wallace and O'Dea.

The Senate is not a layer of protection for us, it is a layer of protection for failed TDs and lackeys.