VOTE NO in both referendums on Friday: Kathy Sinnott

Former MEP Kathy Sinnott calls for the Irish electorate to vote NO in the two referendums to be held next Friday.

It is almost 10 years since I sent off my submission for Seanad reform to the Oireachtas committee considering it. My proposals to make the Seanad the vibrant upper chamber it was meant to be and which we so desperately need were simple. Make the Seanad "panels" correspond to cabinet portfolios giving us Senators for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Senators for Finance, Senators for Health, etc. so that they cover all the major areas of government.

To make sure that senators are people who have real expertise and experience in these areas it was obvious that we needed to change the way senators are elected first by holding Dail and Seanad elections on the same day to discourage politicians from running for the Seanad and second by letting all voters qualified to vote for the Dail register to vote for up to three Seanad panels. For example, a farmer who is a parent might want to register to vote for the Agriculture, Food and the Marine panel of senators, the Education and Skills panel and the Health panel. This self selected electorate would vote with interest and knowledge and have a good chance of electing a Seanad which would be what it was meant to be, a non political, independent upper house with a wealth of relevant expertise and experience.

Just imagine how much better the country would have been served when the recession hit if there had been economists  in Leinster House who understood what was going on.

The day I was invited up to the Seanad by Senator Mary O’Rourke to discuss my submission I really thought there was a whiff of reform in the air. Unfortunately nothing happened.

A few years later attending the Constitutional Affairs Committee in Brussels, I could see that abolition not reform of the Seanad was on the cards. The EU federalist gurus of the committee who liked to see themselves as innovators but who always seemed to be apologists for the European Council and Commission were discussing change to governance in member states. They said that with the Lisbon Treaty (not yet ratified at that time) member states would no longer need elaborate legislative structures and that these should be eliminated or pared down.

Applying this to Ireland, and I had no doubt that our obedient politicians would apply it to Ireland,  it obviously meant eliminating the Seanad. After all who wants to reform that which is destined for the chopping block.

Yet, in my opinion, the more the EU and other global bodies encroach the more we needed a well reformed Seanad.

Additionally one of the changes wrought by the proposed Seanad referendum  is to eliminate our right to vote on EU treaties. This is another proposed change that would please the EU institutions which have little patience with us and   find Irish referendums dangerous.

There is another constitutional change that a yes vote would visit on us which is worth highlighting.

As the Constitution now stands a simple majority of the Dail and Seanad can initiate an investigation of alleged judicial mis-behaviour or incapacity with a view to impeachment where the finding indicate. If we vote to abolish the Seanad we eliminate this important safety net and in its place require an unwieldy  two thirds majority of the Dail to open an investigation of a judge’s conduct or incapacity to judge fairly or at all. A two thirds majority puts this provision out of reach in any situation which the government of the day finds sensitive.

This change is clearly not in the interest of the people of Ireland who must rely on the courts for justice nor does it serve judges who understand better than anyone the need to maintain the highest standards in Irish courts.

Even Fine Gael,  Minister for Justice, Alan Shatter has decried this aspect of the proposed referendum on the Seanad as dangerously open to government interference.

For this and many other reasons, I will be voting NO to both referendums on Oct 4th.

Kathy Sinnott

St Joseph

Ballinabearna

Ballinhassig

Co Cork

0872786552, 021 4888374

New Irish Referendums on Seanad abolition and creation of a new Court of Appeal

I have grave concerns about the implications of the two referendums the Irish Government have arranged to be held on October 4^th, in relation the abolition of the Seanad (Senate) and the creation of a new Court of appeal.

I am reprinting below a copy of a news release I received from Nora Bennis

Dear Friends of Life and the Family,

Our worst fears about the consequence of a yes vote in the upcoming two referenda appear to be confirmed by Michael McDowell (former Attorney General) in his article in the Sunday Independent of 22/9/13.  The two referenda are intrinsically linked.

He states a yes vote will “amend the terms of Article 29 [of our Constitution] to give the Dail sole power WITHOUT HOLDING ANY REFERENDUM to surrender our EU veto on corporate tax AND ALL OTHER MATTERS WHERE NOW WE HOLD A VETO….”   The Lisbon Treaty Guarantees gave Ireland a veto on Taxation certainly.  But it also gave us a veto on two other matters – on the Right to Life, Family and Education, and on Security and Defence.   The guarantee on the Right to Life, Family and Education states:

Nothing in the Treaty of Lisbon attributing legal status to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union or in the provisions of that Treaty in the area of Freedom, Security and Justice, affects in any way, the scope and applicability of the protection of the right to life in Article 40.3.1, 40.3.2 and 40.3.3, the protection of the Family in Article 41, and the protection of the rights in respect of education in Articles 42, 44.2.4 and 44.2.5 provided by the Constitution of Ireland.

If these referenda are passed, the Dail will have sole power, without going to the people in a Referendum, to legislate in the matter of Life, Family and Education.  Enda obviously knew what he was doing when he pushed through his abortion legislation.  He anticipated a yes vote in the upcoming referenda, which would make it impossible for pro-lifers to win any Constitutional challenge to this legislation.

Vivienne Reding, EU Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, has made it quite clear that she wants to enforce respect for the Charter of Fundamental Rights on all EU member states, and she has been working hard to have member states put a “mechanism” in place which will make this possible.

I have now no doubt that the two referenda being put to the Irish people on October 4th, are part of that “mechanism”.  Once again, our politicians have bowed down to their EU masters.

Nora Bennis