Last day to register for seanad voting.

[Deleted User] wrote: »

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.

Deleted User wrote: »

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.