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Marie-Louise O'Donnell: 29 January 2014:

There were 112 combinations proposed between 1937 and 2013 for the reform of the Seanad. They covered such matters as size and composition, elections, automatic re-election of the Cathaoirleach, terms and timing of elections, the filling of vacancies, nominations, the need for gender balance, vocational panels, regional versus national panels, university seats, the Taoiseach's nominees, the legislative process, votes for persons living in Northern Ireland, the European Union and internationally, national votes, secondary legislation, public appointments, public inquiries, policy reviews, petitions, the Order of Business, the right to address the Seanad, the membership of Senators of the Cabinet, the accountability of the Government to the Seanad, the nomination of the Cathaoirleach, the nomination of the Leas-Chathaoirleach, the salaries of Senators and the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission. There were ten reports between 1937 and 2004. We have also had Bills presented by Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin and Senators Katherine Zappone and Feargal Quinn and Senator John Crown.

Acts and bills

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Acts either with "Seanad" in the title or amending the Constitution (of 1922 or of 1937).

Other acts not included, e.g.:

  • general amendments to electoral law which include Seanad elections
  • general amendments to Oireachtas (exclusions, officials, payment) which include both Houses

Other bills:

Short title & link Number Proposers Long title (and preamble)
Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) (Amendment) Bill 2008 2008-007 Maurice Cummins

Bill entitled an Act to amend the Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act 1947 in relation to registration in respect of the administrative panel

  • Second stage 2010
    • "Local Authority Members Association (LAMA) was founded almost 30 years ago and fulfils a similar role to that of the two representative associations mentioned in the 1947 Act"
    • "The Government does not consider that the proposal is appropriate given that LAMA represents councillors in their own right rather than the collective interests of local authorities. As such, LAMA is distinct from the ACCC and the AMAI. ... I understand the Clerk of the Seanad has disallowed numerous applications by LAMA for registration as a nominating body. ... The automatic inclusion of another councillors' body as a nominating body would not sit well with the current imperative towards retrenchment and rationalisation in public administrative structures and processes generally. "
  • Electoral (Amendment) Act 2015 s.2 added LAMA Seanad committee stage
Seanad Electoral Reform Bill 2013 2013-021 John Crown Bill entitled an Act to to provide for free and fair elections to Seanad Éireann wherein the franchise is extended to all people who are over eighteen and legally resident in Ireland and to all people who are Irish citizens; to alter the method that graduates of an Irish Institute of Higher Education use to elect members of the Seanad; to provide for the conduct of elections to Seanad Éireann and to amend the Seanad Electoral (University Members) Acts 1937 to 2006, the Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Acts 1947 to 2006; to amend the Electoral Acts 1992 to 2012; to amend the Oireachtas (Miscellaneous Provisions) and Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices (Amendment) Act 1996 and to provide for related matters
Seanad, Bill 2013 2013-049 Katherine Zappone Feargal Quinn Mary Ann O'Brien Bill entitled an Act to reform the system of electing the elected members of Seanad Éireann as provided for in article 18.10 of the Constitution by extending the right to vote to all persons entitled to vote in elections for Dáil Éireann and to certain other persons resident in the State and to persons resident in Northern Ireland who qualify for Irish citizenship and to Irish citizens resident abroad who hold Irish passports; to provide for gender equality in the election of the elected members of Seanad Éireann; to make provision for the exercise by Seanad Éireann of powers relating to scrutiny of EU legislative proposals and for the holding of enquiries and the receipt of citizens petitions, and for the repeal of certain Acts relating to Seanad Éireann; and to provide for related matters
Seanad (No. 2) Bill 2013 2013-059 Stephen Donnelly Noel Grealish Finian McGrath Mattie McGrath Shane Ross Bill entitled an Act to reform the system of electing the elected members of Seanad Éireann as provided for in Article 18.10 of the Constitution by extending the right to vote to all persons entitled to vote in elections for Dáil Éireann, and to certain other persons resident in the State and to persons resident in Northern Ireland who qualify for Irish Citizenship and to Irish Citizens resident abroad who hold Irish Passports, and to provide for gender equality in the election of the elected members of Seanad Éireann, and to make provision for the exercise by Seanad Éireann of powers relating to scrutiny of EU Legislative proposals and for the holding of inquiries and the receipt of citizens’ petitions, and for the repeal of certain Acts relating to Seanad Éireann, and to provide for related matters
Thirty-second Amendment of the Constitution (Abolition of Seanad Éireann) Bill 2013 2013-063 Government of the 31st Dáil Bill entitled an Act to to amend the Constitution (A) to amend the Constitution for the purpose of abolishing Seanad Éireann and providing that the Oireachtas shall, from the date of such abolition, consist of the President and Dáil Éireann; and (B) in consequence of the foregoing, to amend otherwise the Constitution and, in particular, to amend those provisions of it that confer functions on Seanad Éireann or that are premised on the existence of that House
Seanad Electoral (University Members) (Amendment) Bill 2013 2013-103 Terry Leyden and Thomas Byrne and Marc MacSharry and Mary White Bill entitled an Act to provide for the amendment of the Seanad Electoral (University Members) Acts 1937 to 2006 to provide for the provisions of the seventh amendment of Bunreacht na hÉireann and to extend the franchise of the University Panel of Seanad Éireann to all people who are over eighteen and legally resident in Ireland and are holders of an appropriate third level qualification from an Irish institute of higher education and to provide for related matters
Seanad Reform Bill 2014 2014-006 Micheál Martin Bill entitled an Act to reform the method of election of members of Seanad Éireann and to provide for related matters
Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) (Amendment) Bill 2014 2014-042 Sean D. Barrett and Feargal Quinn and John Crown Bill entitled an Act to amend the Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act 1947 and to make provision for related matters

Reports

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Year Author Report / Link Consequences Notes Comments in later reports
2018 Implementation Group on Seanad Reform Report

Statements on report Seanad 2019-09-24; Dáil 2019-11-07

List of members

Protocol and General Div. of Dept. of Taoiseach page on the group, linking to List of submissions, Minutes of meetings, Cover letter from Chairman

2015 Working Group on Seanad Reform 13 April 2015: Report

5 May 2015: Draft Bill

TBD Press release 18 December 2014 Dept of Taoiseach
List of members
2008–9 All-Party Group on Seanad Reform Did not present a final report

minutes of three meetings: 18 Jun 2008, 22 Oct 2008, 30 Apr 2009

  • 2018 mentioned fn.2 p.5
2004 Seanad CPP sub-cttee on Seanad reform Report
  • Recommended "A 64-member body with 26 members elected from a single state-wide constituency by means of a list system on the same day as the European and local elections, six elected by university graduates on the same day, 20 elected by an electoral college made up of newly-elected Dáil deputies, outgoing senators and county and city councillors, and 12 Taoiseach’s nominees"[1]
  • Hearings Sep 2003 Tue 16 Wed 17 Thu 18 Fri 19
2002 All-Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution Seventh Progress Report: Parliament Recommended "A 60-member body with 48 members elected from a single state-wide constituency by means of a list system, and 12 Taoiseach’s nominees"[1]
1997-04 All-Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution Second Progress Report: Seanad Recommended "A 60-member body with 15 senators elected from European constituencies in the same manner as MEPs, 14 elected by Dáil deputies, 14 by local councillors, six by university graduates, and 11 Taoiseach’s nominees"[1]
1996-05 Constitution Review Group Report
  • 1997 Although its report has some discussion on Seanad Éireann ..., the Constitution Review Group considered that the time available to it did not allow it to carry out a thorough analysis of that house. It recommended therefore that ‘a separate comprehensive, independent examination of all issues relating to Seanad Éireann’ should be carried out.
1967-12 Committee on the Constitution Report
  • 1997 The subject of whether or not a second house was necessary and, if so, how it should be constituted, was also considered inconclusively by the Committee on the Constitution (1967) (Report, paras 64-86).
1959 Seanad Electoral Law Commission Report (Breviate) debates seanad/1960-02-17 seanad/1960-07-13

Chair Circuit Court Judge Joseph McCarthy; 19 others incl. Garret Fitzgerald; Ralph Sutton SC; Brendan Corish; Vivion de Valera. Corish and de Valera each made minority reports.

Senators reappointed in 1960: John Copeland Cole, Brian Lenihan, Snr, Gerald L'Estrange, Dominick F. Murphy, Tomás Ó Maoláin, John O'Quigley and Eoin Ryan, Snr.[2]

  • 1997 In 1958, a Seanad Electoral Law Commission, chaired by Circuit Court Judge Joseph McCarthy, with nineteen other members, considered whether these shortcomings could be remedied within the terms of Articles 18 and 19, but came to no firm conclusions after deliberations lasting nine months. The deliberations of this commission covered the question of direct elections to the Seanad under Article 19. It received representations from more than thirty different trade or vocational organisations.
1953 Select Committee on the Seanad Éireann (Panel Members) Bill, 1952 Report Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act, 1954
  • 1997 Mentioned on p.57
1951 "an inter-departmental committee on Seanad electoral law" Report Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act, 1954 Not on the list of 11 previous reports given on p.70 of the 2004 report of the Seanad CPP sub-cttee on Seanad reform. Minister for Local Govt in 1954: "In the course of its operation some minor defects were noticed in the 1947 Act and an inter-departmental committee was established to review the legislation. The Bill as introduced in the Seanad was based on the report of that committee."
  • 1997 Mentioned in footnote on p.57
1947 Joint Committee on Seanad Panel Elections Report Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act, 1947 Past Reforms and Present Policy: examining the Seanad Electoral Act, 1947 Elaine Byrne
  • 1997 Mentioned on p.57
1943 Commission on Vocational Organisation Report (Breviate) (Also summarised in Saothar.[3]) No major or Seanad-related recommendations were implemented. Minor influence on: Hire Purchase Act, 1946; the Industrial Relations Act, 1946; the Auctioneers and House Agents Act, 1947; Consultative Medical Council Reffed in 1941 debate on 2nd amend const. Dáil questions 1943, 1945, 1947. 1946 estimates debate: Mulcahy raises report (council of education, council of health; quote Min for Ag James Ryan "as a source of information on vocationalism there was no question of its value but he must reserve the right to question some of its deductions and conclusions") De Valera replies "One of the principal difficulties we saw there was the question of organising the rural population—how were we going to get that done? I do not think that anybody would hold that the scheme that has been suggested there is really a workable scheme. I do not think so myself. I do not think it would work out. It is much too complicated and too cumbrous. [...] We are in favour of co-operation and of the development of a vocational organisation of the type that I have mentioned, but, again, we feel that we should not impose it. [...] The trouble is that it is not so easy to get a single group. The Minister [of Education] at the moment has the assistance of a number of groups." Lemass was hostile and offended by the report's criticism of Department of Industry and Commerce:[4] Seanad 1945: "I have read the report of that commission on more than one occasion and I have been unable to come to any conclusion as to whether the querulous, nagging, propagandist tone of its observations is to be attributed to unfortunate drafting or to a desire to distort the picture. The commission spent a great deal of energy upon its researches, and a very long time in preparing its report, and I think it is unfortunate that the report, when published, should be such a slovenly document. I think that that is a fair description of it, because it contains an extraordinary number of mis-statements of fact which [1324] could easily have been rectified by a telephone inquiry to the Department or organisation concerned. In some respects, its recommendations are self-contradictory." The report was marked by the same distrust of civil servants and adulation for professions that motivated opposition to the Mother and Child Scheme, and was buried in the face of opposition from the civil service.[5]
List of members[6][7]
  1. Michael Browne (chair)
  2. Louie Bennett
  3. H P Boland (civil servant, father of Frederick Henry Boland[8])
  4. Seán Campbell
  5. Edward Coyne
  6. George Hugh Cecil Crampton (Crampton's, one of Dublin's largest building firms)[9]
  7. Luke Duffy (replaced Foran)
  8. Thomas Foran (resigned April 1939)
  9. Lucy Franks (Irish Countrywomen's Association)
  10. Patrick Gallagher (?Paddy "the Cope" Gallagher?)
  11. Arnold Harvey
  12. John M. Hayes
  13. James Alexander Hamilton Irwin (Presbyterian minister and republican)
  14. Dr Henry Kennedy (secretary of the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society)
  15. Jim Larkin ("ceased to be a member before the Commission completed its work")[10]
  16. F. A. Lowe (director, Hely's stationers; member Dublin Mercantile Association)
  17. C. P. McCarthy (accountant; 1943 president of Cork Chamber of Commerce)
  18. Maureen McGeehin (teacher; later Maureen Wall, UCD history dept)
  19. Sir Alexander Maguire (?Alexander Maguire?)
  20. Algernon A. Odlum (of Odlums Group)
  21. Timothy O'Mahony (?Dún Laoghaire borough manager?)
  22. Stephen O'Mara
  23. Alfred O'Rahilly
  24. Michael Tierney
  25. James J. Walsh
  26. Richard Wilson (?Richard Wilson (Irish politician)?)
  • P. A. O'Toole (secretary; civil servant)
  • 1997 Mentioned on p.57
1937 Dáil Éireann Special Committee on the Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Bill, 1937 Special Report Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act, 1937
  • 1997 The publication of the Seanad Electoral (Parliamentary Members) Bill 1937, to implement the constitutional provision on the new Seanad, was referred to a special committee of fifteen deputies. After some inconclusive discussion of different methods of election for the Seanad, the committee decided that no useful purpose would be served by prolonging their deliberation and reported accordingly.
1936 Second House of the Oireachtas Commission Report 1937 Constitution articles See The Second Seanad (1938)
  • 1997 In June 1936 the Second House of the Oireachtas Commission was appointed under the chairmanship of Chief Justice Aodh Ó Cinnéidigh. The commission’s report indicated an extraordinary diversity of opinion on such questions as the composition and functions of a possible Seanad, and the most suitable electorate.
1928 Joint Committee on the Constitution of Seanad Éireann Report Constitutional amemdment nos 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15.
  • 1997 Mentioned in footnote on p.57

Other Oireachtas debates

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  • seanad/2014-01-29 Seanad Reform: Motion
  • seanad/1996-04-03 Consultation Paper on Representation of Emigrants in Seanad Éireann: Statements
  • seanad/1994-11-02 New Universities' Enfranchisement: Motion
  • 1991 Seanad "Role of Seanad Éireann — Statements" : Oct 30 Nov 6 Nov 13 Nov 28
  • 1987 Seanad motion "That Seanad Éireann calls on the Government to carry out an urgent review of the powers and functions of the Seanad and the methods of election of its members." 3 June 4 June 10 June 11 June "I think the technical way we are going to do it is to adjourn the meeting without calling for a Vote and adjourn the debate sine die."
  • 1982 Dáil question June 9 "asked the Minister for the Environment if he has any plans to set up an all-party committee to review the system of election to Seanad Éireann" "Is the Minister aware of the representations made by the National Youth Council and other organisations asking that Article 19 of the Constitution be invoked?"
  • dail/1957-11-27 NDP propose abolition
  • dail/1951-11-15 17 postal ballot papers rejected as incorrectly completed - Brendan Corish implied the authorised witness deliberately allowed this to favour other candidates; Minister said it was voters' responsibility.
  • seanad/1943-10-27 Seanad Election—Motion for Judicial Investigation
  • Seanad 1942-07-15 John Counihan wanted a Select Committee to consider the panel elections; motion withdrawn due to negative feedback
  • dail/1938-01-12 Appeal Committee Election Motion, 1938 (rules for "the election of the appeal committee provided for in Section 13 of the Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act, 1937")

Other notes

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  • 1934 Constitution Review Committee considered "fundamental" articles and apparently not Seanad.[11]

"Seanad Elections" tag housing.gov.ie, includes reform option documents

References

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  1. ^ a b c "The Final Seanad Election?" p.243 John Coakley
  2. ^ Committee of Selection : sixth report, 18th May, 1960 / Committee of Selection (1960.) Sub_collection: Committee Report ExternalID: Pr.5541 Corporate Authors: Ireland. Oireachtas. Seanad. Committee of Selection. (152); Title: Committee of Selection : sixth report, 18th May, 1960 File Size: 1.2 MB GMD: Committee Report Place: [Dublin] Imprint: [Dublin]: [Committee of Selection] (199), 1960. Publication date: 1960. Description: [1] p. ; 33 cm. Notes: Title from table of contents. Copyright:: Copyright in this digital scan is held by the OHO. Copyright in the master copy is retained by the creating agency or department Subjects: Ireland. Oireachtas. Seanad. Electoral Law Commission. (3); URL: http://opac.oireachtas.ie/AWData/Library3/Library2/DL013015.pdf Laid pursuant to: N/A Originating authority: Ireland. Oireachtas. Seanad. Committee of Selection. Laid/Placed Date: 19600523 Date Laid (received): 23 May, 1960 Motion of approval: No Order Paper Seanad: S12 (01/06/1960) Statutory period: No
  3. ^ Swift, John (1975). "Report of Commission on Vocational Organisation (and it's Times, 1930-'40's)". Saothar. 1 (1): 54–63. ISSN 0332-1169. JSTOR 23194163.
  4. ^ Lee, Joseph (1989). Ireland, 1912-1985: Politics and Society. Cambridge University Press. pp. 274–277. ISBN 9780521377416. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
  5. ^ Keogh, Dermot (2005-09-27). Twentieth-Century Ireland. New Gill History of Ireland. Vol. 6. Gill & Macmillan. pp. 141–142. ISBN 9780717159437. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
  6. ^ Photo of (most) members.
  7. ^ Maltby, Arthur; McKenna, Brian (2013-10-02). Irish Official Publications: A Guide to Republic of Ireland Papers, with a Breviate of Reports 1922–1972. Elsevier. p. 114. ISBN 9781483188829. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
  8. ^ "Diplomatic representation abroad from J.P. Walshe to H.P. Boland - 05 May 1927 - Documents on IRISH FOREIGN POLICY". Retrieved 13 February 2015.
  9. ^ "CRAMPTON, GEORGE JAMES". Dictionary of Irish Architects. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
  10. ^ McCarthy, Charles (1978). "The Impact of Larkinism onThe Irish Working Class" (PDF). Saothar. 4: James Larkin 1876-1947. Irish Labour History Society: 54.
  11. ^ Hogan, Gerard (1997). "The Constitution Review Committee of 1934". In Ó Muircheartaigh, Fionán (ed.). Ireland in the coming times: essays to celebrate T.K. Whitaker's 80 years. Dublin: Institute of Public Administration. pp. 342–369. ISBN 1-872002-93-5. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
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