I’m writing this piece because of an encounter I had last week with a candidate representing one of the Government parties in the upcoming local elections. In fairness to the man in question – there’s no need to name him or his party – he was a perfectly polite, personable fellow who asked for my vote, as is his right. He’s also, it should be said, by all accounts a pretty good councillor with a good reputation locally, who’ll likely hold his seat.
In response to his request, I said, equally politely, and – I hope – personably that he would not be getting my vote. It’s not your fault, I said, but I think a vote for you would be counted as endorsing the Government’s record on crime, immigration, taxation, health, and a whole range of areas where the country should be doing better. I’m going to vote for an independent instead. (I am – I just haven’t settled on exactly which one yet).
It was at this point that he pulled his trump card, shaking his head sadly. “Ah sure I agree with you about nearly all that”, says he, “but these are local elections and I’d say to you that we need someone in there on the council that understands the local issues”.
The problem with that is, of course, that it’s only half true. Councillors do deal mainly, in their jobs, with the local stuff: Property taxes; roadworks; planning permission; and that sort of thing. But suggesting that they have no national function is nonsensical, when you consider that it is local councillors who elect most of the Seanad.
After the next general election – as is the case after nearly every general election – the various parties will have a raft of defeated general election candidates who decide that the next best thing to the Dáil is the Seanad, and that they’d make very fine Senators indeed. There are sixty seats available in the Seanad. Twelve of these are filled by direct appointment by the Taoiseach. Another six are elected by university graduates. The vast bulk of Senators – forty-two in total – are elected by local councillors.
What’s more, each councillor has more than one vote. There are five so-called “vocational panels” from which Senators are elected: The administrative panel, which elects seven senators; The agricultural panel, which elects eleven; The cultural panel, which elects five; The industrial panel, which elects nine; and the Labour panel, which elects eleven. Every councillor has a vote in each of these panels. In theory, a single councillor could wield the vote that decides five Seanad seats.
This element of the local elections is not talked about much, outside of Leinster House, but is borderline followed with obsession inside Leinster House. For example, a suspected surge in Sinn Fein seats at the local elections (which will happen, if polls are correct) will translate into multiple additional Seanad Seats for Sinn Fein after the next election. The reverse is true for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael: Fewer councillors means fewer Senators.
Perhaps most significantly, an increase in independent councillors would be great news for existing independent Senators like Sharon Keogan and Gerard Craughwell: Independents have traditionally found it very difficult to gain election to the Seanad because of a shortage of Independent councillors, and the fact that party councillors can usually be relied upon to vote the party ticket for the Seanad.
In that respect, my friendly Government candidate was being less than honest with me: When it comes to local issues, he may well be different from the Government. But there’s every reason to suspect that when it comes time to elect Senators, he’d vote reliably for good party men and women. This, as we’ve seen in recent months on matters like the Hate Speech Bill is significant in its own way: The Seanad at its best can be a real check on the Government. It is less so when it is stuck full of party cronies.
This is, I think, a deeply under-played argument for voting for independent councillors: There are fewer things that could be healthier for Irish democracy (in my opinion) than a Seanad that was less dominated by political parties and was substantially more independent of Government than the present Seanad often is. Naturally enough, that’s not argument independents are likely to spend time making on the campaign trail, since it’s probably a bit complicated for the average voter – but it’s something to think about, nevertheless.