The Final Seanad Election?

Abstract

The run-up to the election of the 24th Seanad saw a spiral of attacks on the second chamber, and promises that the 2011 election to that body would be the last. The volume of criticism had grown as parties questioned the need to retain the Seanad, even in reformed shape. In October 2009 Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny proposed outright abolition of the house, and this commitment was incorporated in his party’s election manifesto. At the beginning of January 2011, as the general election loomed, Fianna Fáil sources indicated that they would trump this, proposing to hold a referendum on the same day as the general election with a view to abolishing the second chamber.² The party manifesto duly included a commitment to abolition as part of a broader reform package. The manifesto of the Labour Party was unambiguous, announcing that ‘Labour will abolish the Seanad’. Not surprisingly, the formal programme for government of the new Fine Gael-Labour coalition incorporated a promise to abolish this body.

I am grateful to Paul Sammon (Fianna Fáil), Terry Murphy (Fine Gael), Joe Costello, TD (Labour Party) and Brian Keane (Sinn Féin) for their assistance in the preparation of this article, and to Deirdre Lane (Clerk, Seanad Éireann), Attracta Halpin (Registrar, National University of Ireland) and Michael Marsh (Vice Provost, Trinity College, University of Dublin) for technical advice.