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Last day to register for seanad voting.

Grayson

The closing date for registering to vote in Seanad elections is today. If you are Irish and a graduate of trinity or an NUI institution you can vote in the Seanad elections (Sorry everyone else). Trinity students can register online.

NUI Graduates can fill out this form
http://www.nui.ie/elections/docs/GradUpdateENG.pdf

and either drop it into the offices on Merrion square or scan it and email it to the NUI (records@nui.ie) by midnight tonight.

Here's a nice article by the Irish Times about it: https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/nui-and-trinity-graduates-could-storm-some-barricades-if-they-register-to-vote-now-1.3804875
Here's the NUI page about it: http://www.nui.ie/elections/seanad-register.asp
Here's the trinity page where trinity students can register: https://www.tcd.ie/academicregistry/graduation/seanad-eireann/

This being AH I'm sure there will be a long and educational discussion about electoral reform. Or it'll descend into rabble rousing.

Either way, if you are eligible you should register. Otherwise you're wasting your vote.

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Grayson

troyzer wrote: »

Sort of like a permanent citizens assembly? I quite like that idea.

Pretty much. Gather a representative group.

astrofool

No government has ever voted to give less power to themselves, the idea that the Seanad would be reformed and be more than a talking shop of failures and oddballs is ludicrous, as is the idea that it would somehow become a backdoor to power because your favourite party did badly at the Dáil elections.

tritium

Grayson wrote: »

It's the fact that he wouldn't get elected to the dail.

That’s quite often the case for Seanad candidates though, especially the university panel- Ivana Bacik has been rejected many times by the electorate for example. Similarly the nomination process for other seats often sees it used as a consolation prize for failed Dail candidates

troyzer

astrofool wrote: »

No government has ever voted to give less power to themselves, the idea that the Seanad would be reformed and be more than a talking shop of failures and oddballs is ludicrous, as is the idea that it would somehow become a backdoor to power because your favourite party did badly at the Dáil elections.

That isn't true at all. They voted to give the Troika effective control of our economy. They also voted for all of the various EU treaties that passed power to Brussels.

ohnonotgmail

tritium wrote: »

That’s quite often the case for Seanad candidates though, especially the university panel- Ivana Bacik has been rejected many times by the electorate for example. Similarly the nomination process for other seats often sees it used as a consolation prize for failed Dail candidates

She's not really a people person. It was the same when she was Student Uinion President in Trinity back in the day.

buried

Grayson wrote: »

The closing date for registering to vote in Seanad elections is today. If you are Irish and a graduate of trinity or an NUI institution you can vote in the Seanad elections (Sorry everyone else). Trinity students can register online.

Don't worry about it G. The crew up in there are laughing at all of us anyways. Degree or no.

DEFTLEFTHAND

Why can graduates of St Angela's register to vote but I as a grad of UL can't?

Look before anyone starts, I know UL is a poor institution and ranks as one of the worst universities in Europe (if not the world) but St Angela's doesn't even have a ranking.

I know it's connected somehow to NUIG but Jesus Christs lads.

Mr. CooL ICE

How could you not vote for him

Buford T. Justice XIX

Mortelaro wrote: »

Is this new?
I've voted in every Seanad election since I graduated from UCD many moons ago including the last one
Are current voters being taken off the list?

I seem to have missed voting in one election a while back and haven't been sent any voting papers since then despite still being in the same address since I graduated.

I wonder if they remove non voters from the panel after missing a vote?

Capt'n Midnight

RobbieTheRobber wrote: »

Dont worry UCC graduates dont get to vote for the seanad.

NUI can. Remember UCC isn't a full uni :P

UL and DCU can't nor can the IT's new uni.

The Satanist

Mullen should be strapped to a North Korean rocket and fired into the sun.

astrofool

troyzer wrote: »

That isn't true at all. They voted to give the Troika effective control of our economy. They also voted for all of the various EU treaties that passed power to Brussels.

That's not the same at all, or even slightly close, to have the two scenarios conflated is a disrespect to the conflation of any other two items. In those cases the minor loss of power was weighed by lots of money coming in to the government and allowed the country to stay afloat, there is no benefit at all for the government to transfer even an iota of power to the Seanad (and it's utter impotence can be best demonstrated by the government not having a majority there for years, yet it still hasn't been able to have any effect on any decision made by any politician).

Watching spittle fleck from Ronny Mullen is great fun, but probably not worth the cost of running the Seanad all up.

Geuze

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Why can graduates of St Angela's register to vote but I as a grad of UL can't?

Look before anyone starts, I know UL is a poor institution and ranks as one of the worst universities in Europe (if not the world) but St Angela's doesn't even have a ranking.

I know it's connected somehow to NUIG but Jesus Christs lads.

STACS students are awarded NUI degrees?

Maybe that's the reason.

Geuze

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

NUI can. Remember UCC isn't a full uni :P

UL and DCU can't nor can the IT's new uni.

The Seventh Amendment in 1979 altered the provisions of Article 18.4 to allow for a redistribution of the university seats to any other institutes of higher education in the state, although no change has in fact taken place since then.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventh_Amendment_of_the_Constitution_of_Ireland

[Deleted User]

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

She's not really a people person. It was the same when she was Student Uinion President in Trinity back in the day.

what do mean she's not really a people person? Have you ever met her? She's an incredibly warm person (I don't know her, but have met her on occasion), and she has won awards for her skills as a teacher, etc. They don't give that to 'not-people-persons'.

The Rape of Lucretia

FTA69 wrote: »

The idea that you’re better informed to vote or exercise franchise because you’ve got a degree from UCC is utter b*llocks.

You may have a point on UCC specifically, but certainly, people with degrees from the universities are better informed and will vote better than those without. As a general rule. Of course, there are those without them who exercise their vote responsibly and correctly, and those with them who vote vote cranks and the wrong sort. But overall, the principal is correct. Ideally, it would be extended to those with a greater capability to vote well having a greater proportional influence or even extending it to the lower house. But democracy is a touchy subject, and even though it is to their own disadvantage, giving everyone a vote seems to be the only acceptable model in town at the moment.

ohnonotgmail

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

what do mean she's not really a people person? Have you ever met her? She's an incredibly warm person (I don't know her, but have met her on occasion), and she has won awards for her skills as a teacher, etc. They don't give that to 'not-people-persons'.

I have met her thanks. I was a student class rep back when she was student union president.

[Deleted User]

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

I have met her thanks. I was a student class rep back when she was student union president.

Hardly fair to criticise someone on the Internet based on a perception of them from about 30 years ago when they were a student.

ohnonotgmail

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

Hardly fair to criticise someone on the Internet based on a perception of them from about 30 years ago when they were a student.

It was an observation not a criticism. I mentioned it as it might explain why she has done so poorly at public elections.

troyzer

astrofool wrote: »

troyzer wrote: »

That isn't true at all. They voted to give the Troika effective control of our economy. They also voted for all of the various EU treaties that passed power to Brussels.

That's not the same at all, or even slightly close, to have the two scenarios conflated is a disrespect to the conflation of any other two items. In those cases the minor loss of power was weighed by lots of money coming in to the government and allowed the country to stay afloat, there is no benefit at all for the government to transfer even an iota of power to the Seanad (and it's utter impotence can be best demonstrated by the government not having a majority there for years, yet it still hasn't been able to have any effect on any decision made by any politician).

Watching spittle fleck from Ronny Mullen is great fun, but probably not worth the cost of running the Seanad all up.

Minor loss of power? Most of our laws are written in Brussels who restrict the few powers we do have such as deficit spending. We also have no control over our currency.

I'm not saying these are bad things or that we got nothing in exchange but to suggest that governments are fundamentally opposed to surrendering power is absolutely ludicrous.

OscarMIlde

Can you be registered in two Seanad constituencies if you have degrees from two different Universities? I know I'm registered to vote for Trinity due to doing my undergraduate degree there, but could I also register for NUI since I did my PhD in UCD?

troyzer

OscarMIlde wrote: »

Can you be registered in two Seanad constituencies if you have degrees from two different Universities? I know I'm registered to vote for Trinity due to doing my undergraduate degree there, but could I also register for NUI since I did my PhD in UCD?

I doubt it.

xi5yvm0owc1s2b

1874 wrote: »

Whats the vote for? only certain people can vote??
reading that, unless Im misinterpreting it, that seems a bit undemocratic

Historically, in a bicameral legislature, the upper chamber was often seen as having a safeguarding function, operating as a brake on populism by reflecting the views of those who were older and wiser. Therefore a number of Seanad seats were reserved for graduates of NUI and Trinity, who were assumed to represent educated opinion as opposed to popular opinion. The notion seems old-fashioned today, but they evolved from the traditional understanding of what role an upper house should play.

tritium

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

She's not really a people person. It was the same when she was Student Uinion President in Trinity back in the day.

I don’t think the lack of people skills is the problem, plenty of politicians lack those. Baciks problem isn’t dissimilar to Mullen’s in that they represent an extreme on many issues that many people won’t vote for and don’t necessarily trust.

Elmo

When can you register again?

Buford T. Justice XIX

Elmo wrote: »

When can you register again?

Today, but you probably won't be eligible for voting till next year.

[Deleted User]

Everything that is ugly, notion-filled, wannabe-elitist, upstart, sycophantic and parasitic in Irish society is embodied in the continued existence of that institution. The fact that the British insisted upon a senate in 1920 to give an advantage to their Anglo-Irish supporters, the same year they changed the Irish voting system to PR-STV so that it would benefit smaller/unionist parties and undermine Sinn Féin's landslide 1918 victory, speaks volumes for its elitist, colonial and anti-democratic origins.

And nothing much has changed since 1920 to make it any more democratic. Now, the parasites are party supporters who have usually been explicitly rejected by the Irish electorate. Brian Hayes, Mary O'Rourke, Donie Cassidy and Ivana Bacik being four of very many such permanent snouts in the trough of our taxes. Explicit two fingers to the electorate every time these rejects are put in this Irish version of the British House of Lords.

That the perennially unhinged Eoghan Harris of all people can be appointed to a €100,000 per annum plus (including expenses) position in that institution for coming on the Late Late and telling us how great Bertie Ahern is before the 2007 election further underlines that institution's position in Irish society. Likewise with Marie-Louise O'Donnell's appointment by Kenny, following years of "Isn't Enda great" nonsense in her slot on the Pat Kenny Show.

Lastly, this rubbish about the Seanad having a role akin to its 1937 position of "expert panels" is just that - since the advent of the committee system in the 1960s, and particularly since its reform in the 1980s, the committees have been able to call on a wide variety of experts in each area - and that's before the proliferation of "expert reports" from private law firms, management consultancies etc are paid for. The fact that in 1937 only the very privileged of Irish society could attend university really does explain so much more about why those 6 university seats exist. Rancid wannabe elitist notions everywhere on this one.

The most interesting question about these university seats is this: of all the people who graduated from the universities in question, how many actually vote? I don't at all mean the minority of graduates who sent back that registration form for Seanad elections when they received their first degree. I don't know any graduate who had enough notions to send back that registration form in the first place. In my case, the fact that both of my parents who were born in the 1930s and who raised and funded the education of an army of children were and remain ineligible to vote for that institution sums up how objectionable it is. It, like all this relentless decades-long rubbish about "reforming" this jobs for the boys club, has absolutely no redeeming feature. Oh, and as for the moronic notion that the existence of the Seanad would "keep an eye" on abuse of power in Dáil Éireann - more ignorant rubbish given that the Seanad has not rejected a government bill since July 1964, according to Coakley and Gallagher here.

ohnonotgmail

As soon as i seen your name as the last post i knew you would find a way to blame it all on the brits

[Deleted User]

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

As soon as i seen your name as the last post i knew you would find a way to blame it all on the brits

Ah, your comprehension once again seems to be as lamentable as your writing. I pointed out it was a British invention for anti-democratic reasons. It doesn't really matter if you don't like that fact. Moreover, I clearly put the blame for its continuation on a parasitic political class who want to maintain their jobs for the boys club.

Dr_serious2

The Rape of Lucretia wrote: »

You may have a point on UCC specifically, but certainly, people with degrees from the universities are better informed and will vote better than those without. As a general rule. Of course, there are those without them who exercise their vote responsibly and correctly, and those with them who vote vote cranks and the wrong sort. But overall, the principal is correct. Ideally, it would be extended to those with a greater capability to vote well having a greater proportional influence or even extending it to the lower house. But democracy is a touchy subject, and even though it is to their own disadvantage, giving everyone a vote seems to be the only acceptable model in town at the moment.

You should really listen to yourself. No doubt you consider yourself among the people who 'vote better' than the plebs who didn't go to university.