DIVISIONS HAVE EMERGED within Fine Gael over the proposed abolition of the Seanad, after Senator Jerry Buttimer said he would not support it.
According to the Irish Independent, Fine Gael’s policy was only endorsed by six of its 15 senators, with two saying they were opposed.
Fine Gael senator Paul Bradford said he could not support a referendum on the issue.
The Labour Party also supports the Seanad’s abolition, but just three out of its six senators could confirm that they support their party’s stance on the issue.
Independent senator Joe O’Toole also criticised calls to abolish the Seanad, calling instead for reform.
“We have this extraordinary situation in Irish life at the moment where people are screaming for a voice for civic society. The Seanad was set up to do that. The political parties made sure it never happened and now people are saying it’s not working, let’s get rid of it,” O’Toole is quoted in the Irish Times.
Some Fianna Fáil senators reacted angrily to Minister Tony Kileen’s comments that the cabinet would discuss holding a referendum on the abolition on the same day as the general election, saying it had not been discussed at party meetings.
The Independent reports that Fianna Fáil senator Mary White said she felt “sick” upon hearing her own party was planning to abolish the second house. Her fellow senators Jim Walsh and Diarmuid Wilson said they also opposed the abolition.
A number of senators refused to give a definitive position on the issue.
Green Party senator Dan Boyle said on Twitter yesterday that his party’s policy is “a reformed Seanad, publicly elected”, but said he doesn’t think a referendum on the issue will be held on the same day as the general election due to time constraints.
Minister John Gormley echoed Boyle’s sentiments when speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland earlier today, saying he thought it too ambitious to try holding a referendum on the Seanad on election day.
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