An Seanad

le Seachranaidhe

Sinn Féin recently secured its first seat in the Seanad. This victory came following a disappointing election, and a hard-fought Seanad campaign. Former councillor Pearse Doherty was elected to the Agricultural Panel on the first count. While this is a welcome development in many ways, the politic of this move should also be scrutinised by the broad Sinn Féin membership. To the vast majority of political analysts, the Seanad is viewed as a useless political vehicle, a fact demonstrated by the Taoiseach’s own nominations. For an organisation that continuously asserts itself to be more of a revolutionary movement, than a political party, this move indeed poses some far-reaching questions.

As I have said, Sinn Féin’s participation in the Seanad poses many questions for our membership. The Seanad is widely regarded by pundits on both sides of the political spectrum as a defunct political institution. Notwithstanding the often suspect nominations by the Taoiseach, and the restricted electorate which elects the Seanad, which I will discuss later, the level of debate is often pitifully inept. The assertion that the Seanad can be adapted by us as another site struggle is questionable at best. Thanks to the make-up of the Seanad it is very seldom left without a Government majority. This means that legislation passing through is rarely scrutinised to the point where it is returned to the Dáil. Without a shadow of a doubt we can exploit and publicise our new position in the Seanad, but a site of struggle, realistically, I think not.

The Seanad represents one half of the Oireachtas in the 26 counties, yet by comparison to the Dáil which is elected by Universal Suffrage, the Seanad is elected only by Councillors, TDs, and university graduates. In effect this means it is a second Dáil rather than an upper house. The people vote for the councillors and TDs, in turn (theoretically) the elected representatives of the people vote for the Seanadóirí as they believe the people would want them to. If the Seanad was to be politically useful it would represent the views of minority groups such as the travelling community or the New-Irish, like the Seanad endeavoured to provide on organ for Unionism in the 20’s. As it stands however the Seanad, and the Seanadóirí within, offer very little political divergence from the Dáil. Reform of the Seanad electorate would inevitably bring it closer to the Dáil, rendering it completely politically impotent. However to allow it to continue to function as it is, is neither a viable, nor welcome option. A new model of elections and more accountability are necessary if the existence of the Seanad is to continue to be justified.

Another facet that repudiates the political effectiveness, and indeed the democratic nature of the Seanad, is the Taoiseach’s nominations. As we have seen very recently, these nominations were used as little more than: personal thank yous, and to provide a platform for would-be Government TDs. In choosing his nominations recently Bertie could have, as I have said, used them to diversify the Oireachtas. Alternatively he could have placed more scrutiny on the Government legislation passing through, by appointing more independent or opposition Seanadóirí, in turn making his own Cabinet more accountable. However he did not do this instead choosing to fulfil his deal with the Greens and PDs, and do some posturing for FF before the next election. On top of that knowing that he had fought his last election he wanted to counteract any elevated Republican contribution Pearse might make by nominating, the vehemently, anti-republican Eoghan Harris. Not only did this repay the stout defence Harris did for Bertie on the Late Late, but will undoubtedly afford him some favourable coverage in Harris’ satirical column in the Sindo.

The election of Pearse Doherty to the Seanad could not have been achieved through Sinn Féin votes alone. As a result this necessitated the establishment of an election pact. Leaving aside issues surrounding the Seanad itself, this pact with Labour must be welcomed as a step forward and congratulations to our negotiating team are in order. Firstly a pact with a party, somewhat still on the left of Irish politics is a welcome manoeuvre in laying the foundations for a coalition of the left in the future. Secondly this pact allowed us to bypass the undemocratic Standing Orders of the Dáil, which left our TDs without speaking rights. These achievements must be welcomed as they provide some solace to a slightly deflated membership in the 26-counties. Another alluring point relating to the Seanad is the financial benefit. The loss of our 5th TD in the last election had to be counteracted quickly. The procurement of a Seanad seat somewhat softened the blow. The very pertinent question arises from that however. Are we exploiting the Seanad from a purely fiscal point of view?

This is not a criticism of the decision to enter the Seanad; it is merely questioning the logic of entering an establishment that seems so diametrically opposed to our style of politics. In contrast to previous decisions to enter the Dáil and Stormont, which offered the chance of making some political progress, it seems at this moment in the time the Seanad is no more than a talking shop and offers little or no prospect of ever changing. When all is said and done, there are advantages and disadvantages to entering the Seanad. Most of the advantages stand to benefit us and the development of our party, and are not immediately associated to the Seanad. While the disadvantages that we as Republican activists encounter are known to all parties who turn a blind eye in favour of their political carers, and are directly associated to the Seanad process. Personally I doubt very much that we can view the Seanad as a site of struggle in the coming years. While the experience of Leinster House will undoubtedly be of benefit to Pearse, I unfortunately do not see that his presence there will cause great political waves. After all we must consider our primary and ultimate objectives, and while the Labour pact demonstrates our ability to form synergies with other parties when needed, the Seanad itself does not look like doing much to achieve a democratic Socialist Republic.