Sinn Féin support Seanad abolition

Sinn Féin will be calling for a yes vote in the referendum to abolish the Seanad, which will take place on Friday 4th October.  Cllr Anthony Kelly said that his party favour political reform across this state.  "That goes for the Dail as well as the Seanad," he said.

"The Seanad is an outdated, elitist structure which has acted as a glorified boys club for the favourites of the government of the day for decades.  There is no doubt that honourable men and women have served with distinction in the upper house, but there numbers have been outweighed by the ranks of unelected individuals with vested interests who have been accountable to nobody."

"99% of the Irish population have no say in who gets elected to the Seanad.  Where is the democracy in that?  It has 60 members, 43 of whom are elected by county and city councillors, TDs and Senators, six are elected by graduates of NUI colleges and Trinity College Dublin, and eleven are appointed by the Taoiseach."

"Some people worry that without the Seanad, the Dail will have too much power.  Sinn Féin accepts that reform of the Dail should go hand in hand with the loss of the Seanad, but the fact remains that the upper house has acted as cheerleaders for the government for many years now."

"The Seanad has supported this austerity government on every single occasion including the introduction of the property tax, cuts to disability payments and the promissory note deal which is costing the tax payer €30 billion.  They supported the previous Fianna Fail/PD/Green unholy alliance when they were busy squandering the wealth of the nation and digging a debt hole for every man, woman and child in this state.  They have failed time and time again to carry out their mandate and prevent the Dail from making mistakes that will impact on the lives of the citizens of Ireland."