The Seanad elections 2007

I see no discussion on this so heres a thread for it.
How many of you here have a vote and in what constituency?

Are you going to vote and for whom?

My vote is in the NUI constituency and this time round,I've got more leaflets in the post than ever before.
Tbh with a lot of them you could just change the names and , the words would be very similar.

Oirthir

Tristrame wrote:

Tbh with a lot of them you could just change the names and , the words would be very similar.

So not much different from the General Election?

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Pride Fighter

Is the Seanad elections only for graduates? I am currently in an NUI and want to know if I can vote or not.

Time Magazine

It's only for graduates.

As far as I know, the only exception to this are the Scholars of the University of Dublin.

is_that_so

I came across this long piece in the Times on the power of the Seanad. According to this they have the power to influence how the government does things. Whether they will or not is another question.

The article is premium content.

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/opinion/2007/0626/1181771861970.html

New Seanad could cause turbulence


The Seanad currently being elected has several little-known but strong powers which could be used to challenge the new Government, writes Jim Duffy

Eamon de Valera wanted to create a presidency and a senate in his 1937 Constitution, but both would turn out to be controversial. He justified creating both by giving them what on paper looked like useful powers, but these were constructed in such a way that they were never expected to be used.

In the case of the Seanad, he allowed the House to delay legislation it disagreed with marginally (90 days), and he also gave it what on paper looked like a dramatic new power - to trigger a referendum on controversial legislation.

But it was hoped to be a paper power, because by giving the taoiseach the power to nominate 11 senators he hoped to ensure that the government would have a comfortable majority, meaning that none of the House's powers could then be used against the government.

........................................................

It is mathematically possible on this occasion that Fianna Fáil, because of the low number of seats it won in the last local elections, could find itself with a Seanad minority even with the addition of 11 appointees, given that neither the PDs nor the Greens will win seats. If that happens, one of de Valera's little-known powers could cause difficulties.

Under Article 27, the Seanad has the power, with one-third of the Dáil, to petition the President to refer certain types of Bills to the people in a referendum. The Bill would then go into limbo for up to 18 months until either the people had approved it or a general election had intervened. The Opposition could use this power to embarrass the Government on sensitive issues where it lacked public support or where the three parties in Cabinet were known to be divided.

It is not just the Government that would dread that prospect. Other unused Seanad powers directly involve the President, requiring her to intervene if the Houses are in dispute over whether a Bill is a money Bill (the Seanad has less power over those), on Government requests to limit the time the Seanad can debate a Bill or on calling a referendum.

In a worst-case scenario, Mrs McAleese could find herself having to choose whether to side with the Government or Opposition regularly over the next five years - an unenviable way to end her last term as President.

Depending on the Seanad election outcome, the next five years could be very interesting indeed in the Upper House.

Jim Duffy is a freelance journalist specialising in the Constitution.