Green Party wobbles over third-level Fees

Ireland's Green Party has denied that it has done a U-turn on the issue of third-level education fees.

The junior partner in the current government coalition responded to an accusation from the Labour Party's education spokesman (and former Minister for Finance) Ruairi Quinn (above left), following the comments the Minister for Communication, Energy & Natural Resources (and Green Party TD) Eamon Ryan (below right) made on the RTÉ programme 'The Week in Politics'.

After a day with various conflicting statements from the Green Party, an official spokesperson at their head office said tonight that they were "still opposed to the return of fees", but that they would "look at the Minister for Education's proposals as outlined in a document for the Cabinet".

In the RTÉ interview Eamon Ryan had indicated his support for the return of third-level fees that would involve a loan scheme for students.
Under this scheme, graduates would pay back a portion of their college fees once their income is above a set limit.

The Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe (left), a staunch and quite old-fashioned Fianna Fáil politician and uncritical supporter of Taoiseach Brian Cowen, is expected to outline several options for third-level education funding shortly.

But whatever he will propose, it means a big step backwards in the national education system.
And if the Green Party is really going to support the proposal, it also means another breach of their promises to the Irish voters.

It is a long time now that the Green Party was a sensible force for change and promoter of many worthwhile alternative policies. They have sold their soul, principles and beliefs for two seats in the cabinet and a junior minister's job, and in only two years they mutated from Fianna Fáil's harshest critics to Fianna Fáil's tame poodles. What a change... and so typically Irish!

A phrase by the great satirist, Dean Jonathan Swift, comes to mind: "Any Irishman will happily sell his mother for a shilling and throw his sister into the bargain for sixpence..."

The Emerald Islander

Thank God, it's not Miriam!

Earlier this week Ireland's national broadcaster RTÉ has announced that the 35-year-old Ryan Tubridy (photo above) will be the new host of the station's flagship TV programme, the 'Late Late Show'.
The announcement was apparently "a surprise" for may people in Ireland, and in particular for the Irish bookmakers, who had the 49-year-old TV presenter and mother of eight Miriam O'Callaghan listed as favourite for the job, ever since the show's present host Pat Kenny (photo below) announced his intention to step down at the end of the current series.

Since I dislike television, never watch it on purpose, and not even own a TV set, I am probably not the most qualified person to write about this. But even I know enough about the show and the people involved, and occasionally I have seen bits and pieces while I was in other people's houses. So I will share my views with you, as usual, and invite you to comment or engage with me in debate (below) if you agree or disagree with me.

The really important thing is that the 'Late Late Show' is the longest-running television chat show in the world. Having started in 1962, originally as a short-time filler programme for the summer months, the show is now in its 47th year and - to my amazement - still immensely popular with the nation's TV audience.
In the early years it began at half past eleven on a Friday evening, which was more than late for Irish people in the Sixties and gave the show its name. (There was also already a 'Late Show' on the BBC, which can be received easily in Ireland, and the producers did not want to confuse their viewers, nor get into copyright troubles with their British colleagues.)

Despite its age, the show had so far only three regular hosts. And one of them, Frank Hall, did the job only for a little over a year (1968-69) and is hardly remembered for it.

The man who comes first to most people's mind when the 'Late Late Show' is mentioned is undoubtedly Gabriel Mary 'Gay' Byrne (left), who more or less single-handedly created, shaped and established the programme as a TV mainstay. He hosted the show for 37 years, which must make him one of the most consistent TV presenters in the world (if not the longest-serving).
Gay Byrne, by nature rather a light-hearted man, was always more an entertainer than a dry and factual journalist. He very much enjoyed the light and glossy character of the show, which - at times - also has very serious moments.
In fact, no other modern media element had so much direct influence on the Irish society in recent times. Many movements, ideas and trends of the late 20th century began for Ireland on the 'Late Late Show'. Ever so often the programme was truly controversial and caused upset and outrage in various quarters, from the hierarchy of the Catholic Church to the staunchest Protestant Unionists in the North.

Way back in the early 1960s Gay Byrne was probably not more than a very lucky man among Irish TV journalists. If RTÉ had chosen someone else to host the show, who knows what might have become of young Mr. Byrne. And who knows what might have become of the programme. Perhaps it would have been not more than a short summer filler (as originally intended) and we would not even know or remember its name by now.

But, as always in life, when the right person comes to a cross-road and makes the right choice, big things can wait further down the road. Gay Byrne became not only Ireland's most popular and successful broadcaster, he also made the 'Late Late Show' a household name in Ireland and beyond. And this is meant literally, as Byrne was not only host of the show, but also directed and produced the two-hour-long weekly live programme with great skill and inspiration.

Being well-connected in Dublin's political and society circles, Byrne used his influence and made things possible that without him (and his contacts) would have been hard to imagine. And even now, ten years after his official retirement from the show and from RTÉ, he is still a very active man at the age of 74.
As chairman of the national Road Safety Authority (RSA) the former biker is now a frequent promoter of safety and common sense on Irish roads, and besides that he still finds enough time for special programmes on radio and TV. (For example, his series of erudite studio talks about the four main characters of Jesus' passion - which was broadcast earlier this year, in the week before Easter, on RTÉ Radio 1 - was among the best intellectual radio programmes I have heard in all my life.)

When Gay Byrne decided to retire in 1999, there was for a while great consternation in RTÉ. Who could fill the very big shoes of a man like 'Gaybo'? Was there actually anyone who would even dare to try?
Well, yes, there was. And after contemplating for some time to retire the whole show with Gay Byrne, the RTÉ bosses decided against it. They knew only too well that a programme that big, that popular and so well-established could never be replaced with 'something else'. Not even to mention the nice income from advertisement and sponsorship revenue the 'Late Late Show' generates every week.

So the programme was handed to Pat Kenny, who had made a name for himself already with a number of smaller chat shows and had a considerable track record in traditional journalism and current affairs.
But in contrast to Gay Byrne the new presenter was not a show man. So there were soon critical voices, saying that Kenny's interview style was "too serious", "wooden" and "lacking humour", especially when he was talking to more light-hearted and non-intellectual people like show stars, actresses, models, dancers and some popular singers.
From the few bits and pieces I have ever seen of the show I would agree with those comments, but I would not hold it against Pat Kenny. He is a serious man, with a good journalistic mind, and he demonstrates his interview skills every week from Monday to Friday (10 am to 12 noon) on RTÉ Radio 1.

The light-hearted and glitzy show biz chat on the 'Late Late Show' delighted Gay Byrne, but it bores Pat Kenny, who is interested in real and bigger things.
But I suppose the show was too good a plum to refuse, when RTÉ offered it to Kenny. After all, hosting the station's flagship TV programme made Pat the best-paid person in RTÉ (with more than € 850,000 per annum). I don't think there are many who would say no to such an offer, when it comes their way.

However, after a decade of crafted performances and mixed experience as a would-be showman, Pat Kenny has enough. He probably longs for more reality and serious subjects, and plans to present a new current affairs programme on TV as soon as he ends his ten-year tenure of the 'Late Late Show'. And I have to say that I look forward to that very much. (Even though I won't see the programme, as I don't watch TV, I will hear and know of it, and of the subjects it tackles.)

So now the entertainment gurus at Donnybrook had to find someone new again. As soon as the word was out, some well-known names were mentioned as possible successor for Pat Kenny.

Gerry Ryan (right), one of the biggest beasts in the jungle of RTE's Radio 2 fm (which is aimed at young and less intellectual people), was in the frame right away. He had a little head start, as he stood in for Pat, presenting the 'Late Late Show' on October 24th, 2008, when Kenny took time off after the sudden death of his mother.
But despite his well-known interview skills, Ryan did never have a realistic chance to inherit the programme. Many see him as a lazy slob, and the very public break-up of his marriage did surely not enhance his image either.

Derek Mooney (left), who is now rather a light-weight presenter and works on both radio and TV, was mentioned for the 'Late Late Show', too. He started his career as a RTÉ child performer, but is best known for his excellent and long-running series about animals and wildlife. However, this was before he received big pay cheques from RTÉ. Since he began presenting some of the National Lottery's silly and utterly brainless game shows on RTÉ TV, Mooney comes across quite shallow and artificial. Sad really, but what can one do...?

Ryan Tubridy, who is not unlike Mooney - except that he is not homosexual and has no special interest in wildlife - was in my opinion the 'dark horse' in this race right from the start. Although many regard him as "too flippant and too young" (he is 35, but looks at least ten years younger), I thought that he is the one to watch. Why? Because - like Gay Byrne - Tubridy has the right political and social connections.
What many who watch his TV show and listen to his radio programme seem not to know is that - despite the name Tubridy - Ryan is (through his mother) a member of the prominent Andrews family and thus part of the inner circle of Fianna Fáil's small elite.
Two of his uncles are former TDs, and two of his first cousins are currently members of the Dáil. His grandfather was a close associate and confidant of Eamon de Valera. One of Ryan's uncles - David Andrews - has been the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for the Marine. He now heads the Irish Red Cross. And Ryan's cousin Barry Andrews is Minister of State for Children in the current government.
Even though Ryan is apparently "the non-political one" in his clan and seen by some as "a bit of a clown", he should not be underestimated. During his student years at University College Dublin (UCD) he was a very active member of Ogra Fianna Fáil (the youth wing of the party), and when he speaks about politics or interviews people with a political background, I can hear that his interest is deep and sincere, and based on actual knowledge.

But, for whatever reasons, Ireland's media and bookmakers rated Miriam O'Callaghan (right) as the favourite to succeed Pat Kenny as host of the 'Late Late Show'.
The 49-year-old co-presenter of RTÉ's current affairs magazine 'Prime Time' and mother of eight children was the only female candidate. And as we now live in an age of rampant feminism, most women in RTÉ took it for granted that the job would automatically go to a woman, as it often is these days (while many men are regarded as surplus to requirement).
Fellow RTÉ broadcaster Marian Finucane even said on air that "the job is as good as Miriam's already". Well, you probably know what they say in Rome. The one who goes into a conclave as papabile does usually come out a cardinal.

To make it quite clear, I have nothing personal against Miriam O'Callaghan. But I am awfully glad that she was not chosen to host the 'Late Late Show', and it appears that I am not alone with this opinion. "Thank God, it's not Miriam!" said a friend of mine, who does watch the show every week. "I don't think I could bear her fishwife slang for two hours."

As usual, my friend does not mince his words. And he puts the main point right on the spot. No matter what else Miriam O'Callaghan is or does, she has by far the most unpleasant and vulgar Dublin accent on RTÉ. Sometimes one has even problems to understand her at all. (Many other famous people had similar problems, but they overcame them by taking elocution lessons and speak now perfectly well and understandable. Why Miriam O'Callaghan never took such lessons is puzzling and hard to fathom. Since she is paid more than € 250,000 per annum, a shortage of funds can certainly not be the reason. Perhaps she just does not care and does not mind sounding like a low class washerwoman. But in no other country I know would a person with a comparable accent to the one of Miriam O'Callaghan ever come even near a microphone or TV camera!)

If anyone abroad might wonder how on Earth such a person could get a job as a TV presenter in Ireland in the first place, then I recommend to have a closer look at our country and structure. The political system here is supposed to be Democracy, but in fact it is Nepotism. And it does not limit itself to politics. Everything here is based on who you know, not what you know and can do. Thus we have many unqualified people in prominent positions, and Miriam O'Callaghan is only one of them.
She studied Law and worked briefly as a solicitor in Dublin. But she soon figured out that it is a boring job and looked - as young girls do - for something more glamorous and exciting. Aged 20 she met through her work the journalist and broadcaster Tom McGurk, who is 14 years her senior and worked already for RTÉ. Three years later they married and moved to London. And, despite having no journalistic training and instead one of the world's most awful accents, Miriam soon began working for British TV, but mostly behind the scenes.
Ten years later the couple and their four daughters returned to Ireland. Tom McGurk worked for RTÉ again in various departments, and soon after Miriam was there as well. One would think that having to bring up four daughters would be more than enough work for a mother, but then again, there are different types of mothers...

After 13 years the marriage failed. McGurk and O'Callaghan separated and got divorced later. But both continued to work for RTÉ, and Miriam soon picked up her second media husband, the producer and documentary maker Steve Carson, with whom she has now also four children.

But despite her responsibility for a family of ten, Miriam O'Callaghan seems to increase her screen presence rather than to reduce it. Had she been given the 'Late Late Show', this would have been even more the case.
But she did not get it, and one should be grateful for small mercies.

Although I do not watch television, the idea of having the nation's flagship TV show hosted by a lawyer with no journalistic training who married her way into broadcasting - twice - and cannot even speak clear, proper and understandable English, fills me with strong resentment. It is bad enough that most of our government consists of morons, and we should not do any more damage to Ireland's public image.

So from September on Ryan Tubridy will be the fourth host of the 'Late Late Show'. Hard to say what to expect, and I don't really have much personal interest in it.
But it is significant that at a time when Fianna Fáil - and the government led by the party - are extremely beleaguered and unpopular, the national broadcaster appoints a member of one of the most prominent Fianna Fáil dynasties as the host of the country's most popular entertainment show.

As regular readers of this weblog know, I am not a friend or supporter of Fianna Fáil. And I do not know what - if any - political allegiance Miriam O'Callaghan has.
But when it comes to broadcasting and presenting television programmes, political background or party membership are not the priority. The first element I look at is the qualification for the job, and the ability to do it.
And here the facts and the candidates - literally - speak for themselves: Ryan Tubridy in clear and understandable English, and Miriam O'Callaghan in a slang one might expect from Molly Malone, but not from a woman on RTÉ television.

Some feminist groups are already muttering of "unfair treatment" and "discrimination" (which is as ridiculous as feminism itself), but I think RTÉ has made the right decision.
There are quite a lot of traits Ryan Tubridy and (the then younger) Gay Byrne have in common. I would not be surprised to see the 'spirit of Gaybo' that was clearly absent from the show during the Kenny years return with Ryan Tubridy. And there is another little extra: Should the show be ever short of studio guests, Ryan could just ask a member of his extended family to come in. The Andrews clan could easily fill a whole show with their own movers and shakers alone.

The Emerald Islander

Should the Senate be abolished?

Times of recession and depression often bring significant changes. One reason is a lack of money to pay for things one might well have liked before, or even taken for granted, but can no longer be afforded under the new conditions. And another is the general desire for improvement, reform and even revolution, in order to create new conditions that will give us a better future.

It appears that after only six months of recession and serious political and financial problems in Ireland parts of the chattering classes in Dublin 4 (the posh district of our capital, and also home of RTÉ) have identified a suitable target for a major public sacrifice.

For the past couple of weeks the idea to abolish Seanad Éireann (above) - the 'upper' house of Ireland's parliament, the Oireachtas - has been mooted by different people in a variety of media. There were opinion pieces in some of the newspapers, and then Pat Kenny picked up the idea and rolled it around for a while, first on his daily radio programme and eventually on the Friday evening Late Late Show on RTÉ television.

Columnists for several Sunday newspapers chipped in their twopence-worth of thoughts as well, and that means the matter was also discussed by Marian Finucane and her round table on RTÉ Radio 1 last Sunday morning.
But somehow I cannot see that the subject is moving the hearts and minds of the Irish nation.

The main reason for that is the fact that Seanad Éireann is the least known and least understood part of our political system. While most people, even those who live in perpetual ignorance of politics, know of Dáil Éireann, the 'lower' house of the Oireachtas, many are not even aware of the fact that we actually have a Senate! This, together with the now desperate desire to safe public money, is the root for the idea to abolish it as a cost-cutting measure.

But would it be right, proper, logical and effective? Probably not.

There are several reasons why Seanad Éireann is the 'sleeping beauty' of Irish politics. The main one - and also the reason for being unknown to many people - is the fact that our Senate is not directly elected. Thus very few people have ever any real contact with it.
While there are direct elections to the Dáil, to the European Parliament and to the County, City and Town Councils every five years, the members of the Senate are chosen by a small group of people, all of whom belong to 'the system of state' in one way or another. Every seven years Irish people can even elect a new President, although the position is predominantly ceremonial and has very little political power. But no ordinary person can ever vote for any of our 60 Senators.

This rather odd and unusual procedure goes back to 1937 and the new Constitution that was introduced then by Eamon de Valera.
However, the main thinker and author behind the 1937 Constitution was not the Fianna Fáil leader and Taoiseach, but his close friend and advisor Msgr. John Charles McQuaid, a Holy Ghost Father who was the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin (and Primate of Ireland) from 1940 to 1972.

There has been an Irish Senate since 1920, when the 'Parliament of Southern Ireland' was created under British law with an upper house called Senate. This 'Senate of Southern Ireland' consisted of a mixture of Irish peers and government appointees. It convened in 1921, but was boycotted by Irish nationalists and thus never became fully operational.
It was formally abolished with the establishment of Saorstát Éireann - the Irish Free State - in 1922, but a number of its members were soon re-appointed to a new Free State Senate, which was the first to use the Irish name Seanad Éireann.

Ever since the USA were established in 1776, Irish nationalists were looking across the Atlantic for ideas, inspirations and political models. And as soon as Irish independence became a reality, many of the new state's institutions were modelled on the American system. As there is a Senate besides the 'lower' House (of Representatives) in Washington D.C., Ireland needed one, too.
Considered the 'upper' house of the Oireachtas, the first Seanad consisted of a mixture of people appointed by the President of the Executive Council (government) and other members indirectly elected by the Dáil Éireann.
Prime Minister W. T. Cosgrave also agreed to use his appointment rights to grant extra Senate representation to the small Protestant minority in the new state.

It was intended that eventually the entire membership of the Senate would be directly elected by the people, but after only one such election in 1925 this system was abandoned in favour of a form of indirect election. It has never been explained why, and one wonders if our 'founding fathers' were as much afraid of "too much democracy and power in the hands of ordinary people" as the more famous 'Founding Fathers' of the USA were back in 1776, when they rejected with a clear majority a democratic system in favour of a republic modelled on ancient Rome.

The Free State's Senate was then abolished entirely in 1936, after it delayed some government proposals for constitutional changes. (No sense of Democracy there, and also a precedent on which some of those who now propose the abolition of Seanad Éireann build their case.)

Bunreacht na hÉireann, the new Irish Constitution of 1937, brought Seanad Éireann back into existence, but with clipped wings and very limited powers.
The new electoral system of 'vocational panels' used to nominate candidates for the Senate was inspired by Roman Catholic social teaching of the 1930s, and in particular the Papal encyclical Quadragesimo Anno, published in 1931. In this document Pope Pius XI argued that the Marxist concept of class conflict should be "replaced with a vision of social order, based on the cooperation and interdependence of society's various vocational groups".
These ideas, strongly shared by Eamon de Valera and Msgr. John Charles McQuaid, created the new structure of Seanad Éireann, which still operates under the same rules today.

Under the Irish Constitution an election for the Senate "must occur not later than 90 days after the dissolution of Dáil Éireann". It does under our special system of proportional representation by means of the Single Transferable Vote (STV), but in the panel constituencies each vote counts as 1000, which means that fractions of votes can be transferred. (Sounds complicated to you? Well, it is complicated, and on purpose.)
Membership of the Senate is open to all Irish citizens over the age of 21 and residing within the Republic, but a Senator cannot also be a member of Dáil Éireann.

Of the 60 members of Seanad Éireann 43 are currently elected by the above mentioned 'vocational panels'. There are five such panels, representing various areas of society:

1. The Cultural & Educational Panel elects five Senators and represents Education, the Arts, the Irish language, Irish culture and Literature.
2. Eleven Senators are elected by the Agricultural Panel, representing Agriculture and the Fisheries.
3. Another eleven Senators are elected by the Labour Panel, representing trade unions and various other elements of the working sector, organised or otherwise.
4. A further nine Senators get their seats through the Industrial & Commercial Panel, representing Ireland's industry, trade and commerce, including the fields of Engineering and Architecture.
5. The Administrative Panel, which represents Public Administration and Social Services (including the voluntary sector) elects another seven Senators.

Six Senators are elected by the graduates of some (but not all) Irish universities (three each by the University of Dublin and the National University of Ireland, while other - mostly newer - universities are left out for no good reason). This has often been called "an Irish oddity" and I do indeed not know of any other country were university graduates have their own special political representatives.

But at least those 49 Senators are elected, even though not in a direct way by the general public. The real oddity of the system comes with the remaining eleven Senators, who are - every five years - appointed by the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) at his personal choice and pleasure. Apart from Britain, where the Prime Minister can nominate 'Life Peers' and have them appointed to the House of Lords by the monarch, there is - to my knowledge - no other country regarded as free and democratic that allows its political leader such an amount of direct personal power.

In practical terms the 'Taoiseach's Eleven', as the appointees are often called collectively, are mostly hacks of the ruling party in need of a cosy temporary job. TDs who lost their seat, but are still of value to the party are often made Senators. And some younger talents who contested the general election but failed to gain a seat in Dáil Éireann might also end up in the Senate, referred to by cynics as "the Oireachtas' combined nursery and old folks home".

Appointments to the Senate are also used by the Taoiseach to forge coalitions and please smaller parties whose support he needs. To cement his new coalition in 2007, the then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern appointed two members each from both his smaller partners - the Green Party and the (now defunct) Progressive Democrats - to Seanad Éireann.

Occasionally there are some truly personal appointments among the 'Taoiseach's Eleven', which has made Senators of - among others - the writer and playwright Brian Friel, the Northern peace campaigners Seamus Mallon and Gordon Wilson, and several members of the Dublin brewers' dynasty Guinness (some of which also hold aristocratic titles in Britain).

The latest truly personal and quite controversial Taoiseach's appointment to the Senate (by Bertie Ahern in 2007) was the journalist and polemicist Eoghan Harris. Regarded by many as the ultimate and perpetual Irish turn-coat, Harris lately became a strong supporter of Fianna Fáil , after he 'explored' almost all other political tendencies, including the far left and far right in the past. Why Bertie Ahern made him a Senator will probably never be explained. But it shows to what extend the almost princely powers of an Irish Taoiseach can go.

In the past there have been various calls for a reform of the Senate, and since 1928 no less than twelve separate official reports have been published on the matter. But - to no-one's surprise - none of them led to any action.
The outright abolition of the second chamber has been only on very few Irish people's minds so far. One should remember that the (now defunct) Progressive Democrats called in earlier years for the abolition of Seanad Éireann, the only Irish mainstream party to do so. However, those calls fell silent as soon as they joined Fianna Fáil in government and benefited more than any other party from the 'Taoiseach's Eleven'.
Currently the small Socialist Party (led by former TD Joe Higgins) is the only Irish party that has abolition of the Senate on its political manifesto.

One wonders what is now so suddenly motivating a number of well-paid middle-class journalists and public opinionators to join the far-left of the country's political spectrum in that particular demand...

In my humble opinion this sudden urge to get rid of the smaller house of the Oireachtas is not more than a well-constructed smoke screen, created by some politicians and their friends in the media in order to prevent closer looks at the Dáil, which is the one part of Ireland's political system that really needs urgent and drastic reform.

Being a constitutional historian and political philosopher, I have suggested a root-and-branch reform of the entire Irish political system for many years. I did not have to wait for a crisis and recession to see what is going on in Leinster House, and to come up with alternatives.
There are several essays and articles I wrote about this matter since 1995, and having read them again today I noticed that they are still up-to-date and worth taking notice of. But since I began writing this weblog only in January of last year, these texts are not part of the archive here. So I am thinking to re-publish some of my thoughts on political and parliamentary reform in Ireland here over the coming weeks, and I hope they will find your interest.

To prevent this entry from growing too long, I will for today concentrate on the Senate only. It certainly does need a bit of change and reform, but much less than the Dáil (which I will feature here in detail soon).
In order to safe money and increase efficiency, we need to reduce the overall number of Irish politicians and this also has to include the Senate. But since it has only 60 members, reduction potentials are somewhat limited.

I would propose to reduce the total number of Senators by one sixth, from 60 to 50. (As my proposal for the new Dáil is 100 TDs, this would put the Seanad at half the size of the Dáil. A fair proportion in my opinion.)

And I would also change the electoral system for Seanad Éireann. For historical reasons I would keep the five 'vocational panels', but reduce their influence. For example, the Agricultural Panel still elects eleven Senators, as it did when this country was almost completely an agricultural society. This is way too much political power and influence for the farmers, who have a lot of extra privileges anyway.

Under my system four of the panels would elect four Senators each, and the Labour Panel would elect six. This makes 22 (compared with the current number of 43).

As we have ever more graduates from ever more universities, colleges and other third-level institutions, their role in society needs to be strengthened. (It is also a fact that the - currently six - Senators representing the university graduates are clearly among the best and most active members of Seanad Éireann. For example - Senator Shane Ross alone has done more good for the country in recent years than all government ministers combined...)
Thus I propose to increase the number of Senators elected by our university graduates by two thirds - from currently six to ten - but at the same time extend the franchise to all third-level educational institutions in Ireland, without exception. This would not only be fair to all those who are so far excluded because they went to - for example - the University of Limerick, it would also - indirectly - make third-level education itself a lot more attractive.

As new features in a reformed Seanad I would introduce two Senators elected by the country's defence and security forces (the Irish Defence Forces, their active reserves, and the Garda Siochana) and ten Senators - one fifth of the house - representing the general population. They would be elected directly during a general election, but would not represent local constituencies. Each of the four provinces - Leinster (without Dublin), Munster, Connacht and Ulster - would have two Senators (just like each state of the USA), and a further two would be elected in Dublin (City & County), reflecting the large population density in and around the capital. This would bring the total number of Senators to 44.

Although I am in general not in favour of appointed Senators, under certain circumstances the instrument of direct appointment without election can have its befits. I would therefore allow the Taoiseach to keep his right to appoint Senators, but reduce the number from eleven to three. To balance this reduction and make it more acceptable, I would also allow the Taoiseach to dismiss or replace any of the three Senators he has appointed at any time.
Should a Taoiseach resign or lose his office without a previous general election (as it happened when Albert Reynolds was replaced by John Bruton, and - more recently - the succession of Bertie Ahern by Brian Cowen) the three Senators appointed by the Taoiseach will lose their seats with his resignation. Thus the new Taoiseach can appoint his own three choices, as soon as he takes office.

For the remaining three seats I have a completely new and special proposal. These three I would put under the control of the President, who can appoint anyone of her or his choice, just like the Taoiseach. However, as the President has a ceremonial role and stays out of party politics, the idea is that those three Senators would be people of national prominence, like famous writers, artists, scientists or other personalities whom Uachtarán na hÉireann finds worthy and suitable for the position.

This makes a total of 50 Senators and would be the new Senate as I would structure it. I am sure there is still room for improvement, although I have given the matter a lot of thought over quite some time. Feel free to discuss it - here or elsewhere - and leave your comments.

As a kind of after-thought I came up with another novelty that could be beneficial for the whole country and its political system. In addition to the - now 50 - regular Senators I would create a small number of special Life Senators.
As the name says, the position of Senator would be bestowed for life, but without any payments, as a purely honorary title. Eligible for it would be the former Presidents of Ireland, as well as the former Taoisigh, if they are no longer TDs.
Life Senators would have the right to sit and speak in Seanad Éireann, but not the right to vote. Thus the political balance of the Senate as a second chamber of parliament would not be affected, but at the same time elder statesmen and stateswomen would still have a proper platform to air their views and make their remarks and comments. This I would regard as very beneficial for the state and for our political culture.

Well, these are my personal thoughts about Seanad Éireann, which should not be abolished, but reformed and strengthened. At the same time the Dail also needs reform and restructuring, but this I will explain in detail here another time. Meanwhile I would be pleased to hear from you, especially with comments and opinions regarding my proposed Senate reform.

Only if we all think, talk, write and share our views and opinions this country can grow out of the current crisis.

The Emerald Islander

RTÉ transmits misleading Radio Ads again

In my opinion there is generally way too much advertisement in this world, but especially here in Ireland, which is highly over-commercialised in every possible way.

This goes so far that public service vehicles used by Waterford City Council carry stickers advertising the private company they are leased from. Ornamental standing stones with the names of town lands and housing estates always carry the name of a private company that paid for it, and there are - believe it or not - even public rubbish bins in our parks and on the streets that sport a small plaque, saying "sponsored by..." followed by the name of a local business.

One of my regular annoyances is that Radio Telefis Éireann (RTÉ), which is the sole recipient of the compulsory national TV licence money (currently € 160 per household per annum), also fills its programmes on both Radio and TV with a large amount of advertisement.
The whole purpose of having a TV licence is to give a broadcaster financial independence from vested interests, in order to make proper and independent programmes free of advertisement.

The BBC does that very well, but RTÉ does not. It takes the licence money, whose payment is actually enforced with drastic measures, including the arcane and almost Dickensian 'TV Licence Inspectors' who apparently "visit 18,000 premises every month". (That alone is a ridiculous and outrageous waste of money, energy and resources and deserves a separate article at some other time.) Watching TV in Ireland without having a TV licence is actually a criminal offence, and each month there are numerous people dragged into court rooms and fined for it. And a few, who do simply not have the money to pay either the licence or the fine, end up in prison, for nothing else than watching television.

Despite all this, the complete output of RTÉ - on both Radio and TV - is heavily commercialised and filled with constant advertisements. On top of that many programmes are also specifically sponsored by a company or product which is mentioned in extra trailers several time throughout the transmission of this programme.

I have turned my back on TV many years ago and only listen to Radio, so I cannot say in detail how much worse it is with RTÉ's TV programmes. But the advertisement content on RTÉ Radio is bad enough and higher than that of some commercial stations, which have no other income than advertisement.

Not enough that listeners are constantly bombarded with unwanted commercials which are even used to interrupt news bulletins, many of the ads transmitted by RTÉ are strictly speaking in breach of broadcasting rules as they are peddling clear lies or make incorrect statements about a company or product. But no-one (except me) seems to care or feel bothered.
Actually, as things are here, anyone can broadcast a complete tissue of lies and get away with it, as long as the last words of the ad are "terms and conditions apply". And it is quite telling that this phrase is the most common in Irish advertising, appearing in about two thirds of all adds I hear on RTÉ Radio. Most significantly they close all ads for banks, insurance companies and all sorts of other financial services.

But the crooks in the big multi-national companies and their henchmen (and women) in the large lying factories known as 'advertisement agencies' do not stop there. Now they even produce ads with clear and plain lies without attaching any verbal safety net at the end.
Not that this is the first time RTÉ has transmitted misleading ads. It happens ever so often, and one wonders if there is any control of the content at all before it goes out on air. Or perhaps it is all the same for RTÉ, as long as they get paid for peddling rubbish and spreading lies.

The latest example of that is a new ad for Opel cars, which I have heard on RTÉ Radio 1 today for the third time. It indicates that at least some US companies have by now realised that their uncritical support of the criminal Bush administration over the past eight years and their overall imperialist approach to marketing are doing some damage to their international sales figures, especially in Asia and Europe.
So now they have decided to use even obvious lies to win over the uninformed and truly gullible elements of the Irish population, which are quite significant in numbers.

This new ad opens with introducing Opel as "a German company", and that is a clear and plain lie. But for many it sounds alright nevertheless, because Opel started as a German company.

Let us look at the facts: The Opel GmbH was indeed founded in Germany 146 years ago, on January 21st, 1863. It first produced various household goods, but soon specialised in sewing machines. By 1895, the year company founder Adam Opel died, they were the largest maker of sewing machines in Europe and also produced each year 2000 bicycles, then a novelty form of transport that was gaining popularity.
Three years later Opel began also building cars, first in partnership with a German inventor and then with a French engineering company. In 1906 they developed their first own model, and by 1913 Opel was the largest car manufacturer in Germany.

After World War I things looked more dire, even though Opel was still the leading car brand in a devastated Germany. But the economic crisis of the late 1920s with hyper-inflation and political instability ruined many a German business forever.
In 1929 Opel was taken over by General Motors of Detroit, USA, the largest car maker in the world then and now.

So even though Opel began as a German company and still has production facilities there, it is actually a 100% American firm and has been for the past 80 years. To call it now "a German company" in an ad for the Irish market is at best misleading, at worst a plain lie. It has not been done in the past, as long as US cars were seen as somehow desireable here. But now, that many people have turned their backs on the USA and anything American for various reasons, suddenly General Motors declares Opel "a German company", hoping to cash in on the fact that Germany has a long, unbroken and exceptional reputation for engineering excellence.

Well, I do not wish to influence anyone here, and I believe that people make up their own minds in any way they see fit. Personally I would never buy or drive an Opel car, nor any other US car, knowing of the way General Motors runs its business (and has been supporting George W. Bush and other leading Republicans for many years with vast sums of money). And though GM is the worst of the lot, Ford and Chrysler are not much better than their larger rival. However, it is not for me to tell you what car to buy and drive. I just hope you know what you are doing and whom you support with your money.

But I strongly resent the fact that RTÉ, our national broadcaster, is offering itself as a willing accomplice to another deliberate tissue of American lies. I am certain that before this current crisis is over we will see many changes in many areas, including broadcasting. And I can assure you - and RTÉ - that I have an excellent memory.

The Emerald Islander

Doctors and Patients concerned over HSE Cuts

Health unions and patient campaign groups in Ireland have raised concerns about plans by the Health Service Executive (HSE) to review full-time Accident & Emergency (A&E) services at eight Dublin hospitals and three in Cork.

The details are contained in the executive's 2009 service plan, which has yet to be published, but has been seen by RTÉ News.

The Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) says that while 24-hour accident and emergency services can not be provided at every hospital, any replacement services must be "at least as good as what currently exists".

IHCA deputy head Donal Duffy said that given the population of Dublin and the large number of patients on trolleys in A&E each day, more services rather than less were needed.
He accepted that some rationalisation of services was needed and predicted that next year would be a "very difficult one for patients".

Meanwhile the Irish Patients Association says it hopes the HSE's plan is not a resurrection of the 2003 Hanly Report. On its behalf Stephen McMahon said all those affected should be involved in consultation on such a major development.

The Labour Party has called for an immediate publication of the plan. Its health spokesperson Jan O' Sullivan said that closing full-time A&E units, particularly without providing additional resources to other units, would simply "make a bad situation worse".

The 90-page-long HSE service plan for 2009 is already approved by the Minister for Health Mary Harney (left).

Part of its projection for 2009 is the plan to "cut inpatient admissions, the average length of hospital stay, and outpatient numbers", while "increasing day case procedures".
The measures also envisage rationalising A&E services in the mid- west and the provision of 24/7 emergency services by three paediatric hospitals in Dublin.

Around € 530 million in savings is being sought in the Health Service throughout next year.

The plan will see the HSE cutting the number of management and administration grades by 3% and it must stay within a staff ceiling of 111,575 people.

Irish Farmers "won't go away quietly"

Padraig Walshe (left), the President of the Irish Farmers Association (IFA), is warning the Irish government that "farmers won't go away quietly and accept the Budget cuts".

He was speaking yesterday evening in Ennis, Co. Clare, where more than 7000 IFA members from counties Clare, Cork, Galway, Kerry, Limerick, Offaly, Roscommon, Tipperary and Wexford had gathered for a mass demonstration to vent their anger.

Since October more than 20,000 Irish farmers have now expressed their anger over the 2009 Budget cuts at various IFA meetings all over the country. (see also my entries of November 2nd & 16th)

The IFA says that the recent cutbacks will mean a € 20 million loss to farmers in the region every year and is urging the government to think again.
It also accuses the Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith to be "in denial over the impact of the government cuts on farmers".

Padraig Walshe says that Minister Smith is "disingenuous by referring to 2008 payments, which have nothing to do with the government's farm cuts for 2009".

"The way farmers have been hit is totally unacceptable", Walshe declared in an interview with RTÉ.
"The cuts are a direct attack on the viability of low-income farmers, especially in the West. Many farmers will not be able to make a living from farming under these conditions."

In reply, Brendan Smith (right) said that he did "not accept claims about the impact of the cuts on farm incomes".

This is another example of a Cabinet Minister closing his eyes and ignoring the facts, hoping that the problems will somehow 'go away'.

Smith, who was only appointed to his current position in May of this year when Brian Cowen became Taoiseach , seems to be quite a fast learner when it comes to collective ignorance and - as Padraig Walshe pointed out - denial.

He makes a fine addition to a Cabinet that is meanwhile so far removed from reality and from the Irish people that no argument, no matter how valid, can get through the ring of political cotton wool it surrounds itself with.

There are two ways to deal with this: Either the government removes the cotton wool, or the people have to remove the government. Personally I think the latter is the more desirable and more effective solution to improve our lives, our country and our economy.
As the IFA would be a welcome ally in such an operation, I hope that this time the farmers will indeed "not go away quietly" and remain strong and steadfast in their protest.

The Emerald Islander

Quinn calls Budget "a Dog's Dinner"

The Irish Labour Party's spokesman on Education (and former party leader) Ruairi Quinn (left) has described the 2009 Budget as "a dog's dinner" and said that its measures are "an attack on children".

Quinn was speaking on RTÉ Radio 1 this morning, where the Minister for Communications, Energy & Natural Resources Eamon Ryan (Green Party) said there was "not a cut in the education budget, but a € 300 million increase".
Ryan said he did not want to see education bearing the brunt of the financial crisis, but at the same time he did not think it would be right to "completely ignore the possibility of achieving savings or getting greater efficiency".

However, Declan Kelleher (photo right), President of the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) has said that primary school children are "the least funded sector in the Irish education system".
Kelleher was speaking ahead of a demonstration by teachers, parents and students outside Leinster House in Dublin this evening, in protest against the planned cutbacks .
The campaign to stop the cutbacks would be fought from every parish in the State, Kelleher stated defiantly.

Earlier the Minister for Education Batt O'Keeffe (photo left) accused teachers' unions of "scaremongering".
In an interview on RTÉ's Prime Time programme last night, O'Keeffe said that the government would "not change its stance on the issue".

The Dáil resumed this afternoon amidst the continuing controversy over the government's Budget proposals.

Attention will centre this evening on a Labour Party private members' motion, criticising the cuts in education funding which will focus attention on the Green Party's position on this issue.

Fianna Fáil backbenchers faced opposition taunts last week, and this time it will be the turn of the junior partners in government. The Greens must now effectively defend proposals that will see class sizes in Irish schools rise.

Yesterday the Green Party said it was "committed to remaining in government", prompting one of their most prominent members - Clontarf Councillor Bronwen Maher (right), the only Green member of Dublin City Council - to suggest her own party has "no moral or political bottom line".

Last night a party spokesman said the Green Party was "disappointed and a little puzzled by her comments".

Well, as I expressed in my analysis yesterday, the Green Party is now waking up to the realities of Irish politics and has to live with the fact that it joined their main enemy's camp last year. (see yesterday's entry fro details)
There is really only one alternative: Either the Greens betray their moral and political principles of 25 years' standing (as Bronwyn Maher noticed), or they leave the government coalition and thus trigger an early general election.

The Emerald Islander

Ex-Minister supports the Raising of Asgard II

Robert 'Bobby' Molloy (photo left), a former Irish Minister for Defence, is supporting calls for the raising of the Asgard II from the seabed in the Bay of Biscay, where she sank in the early hours of September 11th. (see my entry of that day)

During his time as Minister for Defence, Robert Molloy approved the original funding to build the brigantine specifically as Ireland's national sail training vessel.

In an interview with Ireland's national broadcaster RTÉ, Mr. Molloy said that the Asgard II (archive photo right) had made "a huge contribution to the nation, training thousands of young people and helping to formulate their characters".

He emphasised that it was "essential for safety at sea to know what has happened to the vessel" and that the State should continue to provide sail training for young people in the future.

Two separate investigations by the Irish Marine Casualty Investigation Board (MCIB) and by the French maritime authorities have not been concluded yet, and the current Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea told the Dáil that tenders for lifting the Asgard II from the seabed will close next Friday.

The costs for a salvage operation are expected to be substantial, but since the vessal was insured for € 3.8 million, that amount of money should be well sufficient to raise and restore her.

Willie O'Dea (photo left) said that Coiste an Asgard, the committee which runs the vessel's operations (and which he chairs), has also been looking at a possible replacement to continue national sail training, but has not yet made a decision.

Mr. Molloy, who retired from politics in 2002, said he had met with the present minister and that many people were concerned about the future of the Asgard II. He called on all sailing people to make their voices heard, in order to get the sunken brigantine salvaged and returned to service.

Regular readers of this weblog will know that I have done this already for the past six weeks, and even made further suggestions. (see also my entries of September 13th and October 3rd, 5th, 12th & 18th)
I will continue to do so and welcome the statement and support of Bobby Molloy. Without his clear vision and determination in the early 1980s the Asgard II might not exist at all, and he is a most welcome ally in the campaign to safe her from an eternal grave beneath the waves.

The Emerald Islander

Well done, Marian!

Part of my normal Sunday morning is listening to Marian Finucane's discussion programme on RTÉ Radio 1, which runs from 11 a.m. to shortly before 1 p.m. and is always interesting as a kind of combined social barometer and thermometer.

I have to admit that I don't care much for the last 20 minutes of the programme, which is always filled with unnecessary self-promoting announcements from the RTÉ sports department and then with a string of widely useless film reviews and TV tips.
So if Marian Finucane and her producer Anne Farrell are reading this, then I would urge them to scrap that part in future and let the discussion among the studio guests run the length of the whole programme.
It is often the case that time runs out for the really interesting discussion, and the one is bored with the mediocre reviews of dreadful films, usually American productions not worth seeing anyway.

But from 11 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. on Sunday mornings the Marian Finucane programme is the best one can find on the air waves in this part of the world.

(BBC Radio 4, which is often superior to RTÉ Radio 1, has no chance competing with Marian and fills their Sunday schedule with a whole string of boring and patronising programmes.)

As much as I enjoy the programme every Sunday, I have to state that today's discussion was by miles one of the best I have ever heard. Fuelled by the general anger over the 2009 Budget the emotions flew high, and at times the studio guests were shouting at each other in such rage that one could not really understand anything they were saying.

But I didn't mind. The programme exposed very clearly how serious our crisis is, and how deeply the anger over Fianna Fáil's incompetence to govern the country properly is felt by many people of all social classes.
And when the chattering classes of Dublin 4 begin to shout at each other in anger - live over the airwaves - then something is happening in this usually docile country of ours.

Well done, Marian! And well done, Anne! You have brought out the real emotions of your guests and thus showed us the real picture. Keep up the good work! And we will be listening.

The Emerald Islander

The Minister for defending the Indefensible

Being an island nation with a small population and no natural enemies, Ireland maintains only a very small Army (of less than 10,000 strength), an even smaller Naval Service for coastal patrol purposes (1200 strong) and a tiny Air Corps (with 930 personnel).

Thus the position of Minister for Defence is actually not the most demanding in the Cabinet, which probably explains why the current office holder, Limerick Fianna Fáil TD Willie O'Dea (right), has been chosen for a new additional role by the Taoiseach and his colleagues in government.

O'Dea is now more and more appearing as inofficial government spokesman on various political topics that are not related to his Defence portfolio. (Unlike many other countries, Ireland does not have a Minister for Information or full-time government spokesman, and usually ministers speak to the media on matters that concern their department.)

Ever since Brian Cowen became Taoiseach in May, Willie O'Dea has appeared several times on RTÉ and in press conferences, presenting and defending various aspects of government policy. So one wonders if under the new leadership of Cowen the Department of Defence is now also charged with defending the government against the increasing criticism from the opposition, the media and the Irish people.

The latest appearance of Willie O'Dea in his new role as defender of the government was today on RTÉ Radio 1, when he tried to explain and justify the highly unpopular measures and new taxes that his Cabinet colleague, Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan, introduced in his 2009 Budget on Tuesday.

Lenihan appeared himself on Pat Kenny's programme yesterday and tried his best to fend off the massive public outrage his new budget has caused within the nation, but now he is hiding behind the walls of his department, where he is apparently "busy working out the necessary details of the finance bill". Very convenient for him, and of course another chance to wheel out the governments new multi-purpose defence weapon - Willie O'Dea.

One cannot say that he is not trying hard in his new role, but nevertheless he has very little impact with his arguments. Defending the indefensible never works, and even a minister whose job is defence cannot succeed in such a task. It does also not help that O'Dea's public perception is that of an involuntary comedian, a reputation he acquired long before he was promoted to ministerial duties.

Perhaps it would be better for Brian Cowen and Brian Lenihan to stand up and admit that they have failed in their task to govern the country properly and prudently. They could still make amends and adjust the new budget. But even better - and certainly more fair and honest - would be to call a new general election and let the people of Ireland decide whom they want to run the country under the new conditions of recession, financial meltdown, high unemployment and global crisis.

The Emerald Islander

The Cat is out of the Bag

Sean FitzPatrick, chairman of the Anglo Irish Bank and for more than 20 years its chief executive, has openly admitted that his bank - like many other financial institutions in Ireland, Britain, the USA and other parts of the western world - "made serious mistakes". However, he rejected the accusation - made by politicians and media alike - that they had been "reckless".

Speaking with Marian Finucane on RTÉ Radio 1 this morning, FitzPatrick also stated that he is "grateful for the € 400 billion guarantee scheme introduced by the government".
He added that banks would pay the full cost of the guarantee, and the taxpayer would only be called upon "if all the banks fail".

I would not have thought that I ever hear a senior banker make such a statement, and make it in public. It appears that the global financial crisis, which in Ireland's case is first and foremost a massive under-capitalisation of the banks, is more serious than even pessimists expected.

When the chairman of one of the country's major banks mentions the possibility of a failure of all banks on national radio, we all should sit up and listen very carefully.

Until very recently such a sentence would have been seen as economic blasphemy and no-one would have spoken these words, not even behind closed doors, in the cosy clubs and circles where money people meet and socialise.

Now the cat is out of the bag, as we sailors would say, and for everyone to see and hear. Let's hope that there are some sensible people left in government and international finance. Otherwise we might all get a free ride this winter - down to hell in a handcart.

The Emerald Islander