And so they’re off! The Fine Gael party today launched their referendum campaign to abolish the Seanad, with Richard Bruton in the driving seat as director of elections for the party and Regina Doherty as his deputy. Having brought this issue to a head, the onus is now firmly on the government, and particularly on…
As noted a number of times over the past number of years on this forum, this government was elected on a promise of ‘radical reform’. With the spotlight turned again on Dáil reform – because of the government’s promises of more change though only if the Irish people vote to abolish the Seanad – a review…
Post by David Farrell (September 29, 2011) Today’s Irish Times reports on a speech yesterday by (former leader of the Senate) Maurice Manning to Senators. This results from the Senate’s initiative to invite ‘outsiders’ onto the floor of the chamber to speak frankly to them. And by the looks of things Dr Manning’s comments were…
I have recently returned from a research fieldtrip to Australia. The following is an extract of an article of mine from The Irish Examiner, April 2 2010. I have examined the experience of the Australian Senate, of interest in Ireland because of Fine Gael’s proposals to abolish the upper house. (Given the likelihood of a…
Irish Politics Forum 