Submission to the Constitutional Convention

Dear convention members,

Article 15.14 states that noone can be a member of both the Seanad and the Dáil at the same time. However, it imposes no further restrictions on politicians crossing over from one house to the other. In practice, a great many senators/TDs have spent time in the other house. This movement of personnel from one house to the other has harmful effects for politics. It allows political parties to use Seanad seats as a publicly-funded promotional tool for future potential TDs. It also allows parties to preserve the political status of TDs who have been voted out of office by the people, but who may be reelected in future. Neither use is in keeping with the role of the seanad as a true second house.

 

Furthermore, the European parliament is used in much the same way, with candidates standing without any serious intention of dealing with EP business, but rather as a means of publicising themselves for future Dáil seat contests.

 

I propose a revision of 15.14 to extend it to the European Parliament and to impose a delay of 3 years for any politician leaving one of these bodies before they can take a seat in one of the others. In this way, candidates running for a Seanad or a European Parliament seat could not use it merely as a platform for a future Dáil election. They would have to commit to the house they seek election to and take the seat with the intention of performing that specific role for its own sake.

 

Here is my proposed text:

 

"No person may be a member of the European Parliament, Dáil Éireann or Seanad Éireann within 3 years of having been a member of another of those bodies.".