Rigging the Seanad
July 21st, 2007
I had heard bits and pieces about somebody selling a vote for the Irish senate on eBay, and was surprised to see the coverage that it got in the Irish Times today.
Dan was disgusted:
I recognise that for a great portion of people the Seanad and all who sail in it are something of a joke, but the right to vote is a pretty basic idea that I would expect every citizen to have some respect for. I’m genuinely disgusted.
And I agree with him about the right to vote being a pretty basic idea. That is why I am disgusted by the fact that people actually believe this election should be taking seriously - a system that doesn’t allow your average working man to vote, but instead gives a voice to this guy:
All those of you who went to an Institute of Technology for four years, how does it feel to be inferior to him?
As Dan points out, every citizen, especially second class citizens, should respect this man’s right to vote. But seriously forks, I say fair play to dermotthegreat, protest votes making a mockery of this system are exactly whats needed here. But then again, the fact that nobody was even willing to fork out €1.62 for the privilege implies that perhaps the system is already a bit of a joke.
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July 21st, 2007 at 10:25 am
+1 James, agree with you completely. How do we go about getting reform in the Seanad though? It’s in the Dail’s best interest to keep it that way, and how many of the sitting “senators” are going to vote for reform?
adam
July 21st, 2007 at 12:36 pm
If you read some more you’ll see that I want the Seanad altered so that everyone gets a vote not just 3rd level folks in our various guises.
After all, I’m not able to vote myself.
July 22nd, 2007 at 1:13 am
Sounds like the ball has already started rolling: http://www.irishelection.com/07/greens-to-propose-seanad-election-reform/
July 22nd, 2007 at 16:15 pm
I would think that raffling a vote on eBay would not be substantially different to granting it to the most generous lobbyist or special interest group.
In a sense, selling it to the highest bidder is, unfortunately, the name of the game. At least eBay provides some measure of transparency to an otherwise shadowed process.