Campaign Review

I was initially going to write a post on Wednesday night when I got home after the long day in the Exam Hall waiting for the 1st count. But then I thought better of it and decided to let it lie for a few days before putting the proverbial pen to paper.

The Result

For those that haven't seen the figures yet, I polled 178 on the 1st count and by the time I was eliminated after the 6th count that had gone up to 206. With a quota of 3891, that means I was about an order of magnitude short of where I needed to be. David Norris was elected on the first count with over 36% of the 1st preference votes. Ivana Bacik took the second seat on count 10 having secured 2982 1st prefs and Sean Barrett overtook Tony Williams to take the final seat from a starting position of 1051 votes.

Planning

The first lesson learned is that you can't run a successful election campaign without a long planning phase. While I put out a few feelers the week before the General Election, we only decided to run the campaign three days before the close of nominations. That meant there was no chance to get friends and classmates back on the electoral register, no time to get the campaign website online before the candidates were announced in the press, no time to do some proper brainstorming on campaign message and tactics. In fact the rushed timescale meant even getting a valid nomination submitted in time was hard due to assentors not knowing which address they had on the register.

Incumbency vs Name vs Machine

While, relatively speaking, it is easy enough to get onto the ballot paper for the university seats, it is a whole other job getting votes. Looking at the top performers we have the two incumbents way out in front of the field. Next up you have Tony Williams who had the Shane Ross machine backing his candidacy. Next you had Sean Barrett who had run twice before as well as being a well known Professor of Economics. After that you have Maurice Gueret again a third time candidate who would be well known in the medical community and then Marc Coleman, economist and broadcaster.

What this points to is that having the resources to run a big campaign, having existing name recognition and having access to media seems to be key to running a successful campaign. Not that I am suggesting that any of these candidates didn't have policies and legislative agendas to back up their candidacy, but without these three components is is hard to get those policies across to the electorate. In each of these three areas I was blown off the field.

Money

What would be interesting to know is how much was spent by candidates on the campaign. I have previously blogged about my costs to which I must now declare an additional €150 or so to Facebook for online ads during the campaign. From what I can gather, certain campaigns spent multiples of my total, potentially into five figures. Unlike the General Election there are no limits imposed by SIPO on spending in the Seanad election which is something that might want to be addressed in the future.

Media

Similarly to finances, there do not appear to be strict rules in terms of media coverage in the Seanad election and in a way who can blame the media for going after the higher profile candidates as they are the most likely to win. But if elections are meant to be fair with a level playing field then there needs to be equal access to media for all candidates. I had three serious media outings during the campaign. I was disappointed with my performance on Pat Kenny but I feel that both the Vincent Browne and Newstalk shows went pretty well. Just a pity that both of them came so late in the campaign after most people had already cast their ballots.

Thanks

An election campaign isn't a one person operation. Thanks are due to the following

• My wife, Stella, for putting up with my crazy electoral notions.
  
• My mother, Eithne, for addressing several hundred envelopes and keeping tabs on daytime radio for Seanad election news.
  
• Dave and Moran for the blitz weekend on the flyer and website content.
  
• Edward for doing the website design in double quick time.
  
• Anyone who got in touch during the campaign to express their support.
  
• The 177 other people who put a 1 opposite my name on the ballot paper.
  

So does this mean the end of my political career? Maybe, maybe not. But I am certainly a lot wiser now than I was a few months ago with regards to the mechanics of electoral politics. I'm glad to have done it, especially as it may have been the last ever election to the Seanad.

Finally, I will be giving a talk at the next Ignite Dublin session on 8th June on the whole election thing for those that want more detail or want to chat about it in person.

A long old week

Its been a long old week both personally and politically.

Reports

Two major reports on Ireland were published in the last week. Firstly, Peter Nyberg published his report on the banking crisis where he blames pretty much everyone except specific politicians or the ECB. Buying into the school of thought that came out with classics such as "we all partied", it is hard to see what Nyberg really brings to the table in the way of clarity. Maybe in a few weeks, after the report has had time to sink in, I'll be more positively inclined towards it but at the moment it doesn't really do it for me.

Secondly, Colm McCarthy published his followup to his 2009 best selling An Bord Snip Nua report, by coming up with a list of national silverware that would be better off in private hands. While he had the decency to suggest that we should hang on until the market has recovered before flogging our assets, that there is about €5B to be generated by this process. Again, it is a detailed report, but An Bord Flog It does continue the right-wing agenda of privatisation. One would hope that at least some lessons of Greencore and Eircom will have been learned.

Music

Every year in the run up to Easter I find myself in St Patrick's Cathedral for long periods of time. However, it's not because I become a staunch Anglican. Rather, I am heavily involved in the staging of the annual Good Friday concert in aid of the Carmichael Centre for Voluntary Groups. Over the years I have been bumped up the food chain from stage hand to ticket checker to traffic control and now over the last few years to stage manager where I get to bully talented musicians and singers into doing what I want.

This year the Goethe Institut Choir performed Brahms' Requiem in a very successful evening. However, the first half of the concert was quite awkward from a logistics point of view as the choir performed a Tallis piece from the rear of the Cathedral as opposed to just staying on the staging at the front. However, thanks to the wonders of SMS technology it all went off without much trouble.

The Campaign

I suppose this being a political blog I should comment on the Seanad Campaign. I was on the Coleman at Large panel last Wednesday where we discussed the McCarthy report and the Seanad in some detail. Having done plenty of radio in the past I found it much easier than Vincent Browne the week before. I also bumped into David Norris at the Good Friday Concert where we had a good chat about the campaign and his plans for the Áras.

The count for the DU seats is happening on Wednesday in the Exam Hall, starting at 9:45. I'm still trying to decide what my metric for success will be. Obviously being elected would be the greatest success, but I'm realistic enough to accept that is an unlikely outcome. Initially, I think my goals are to not be the first candidate eliminated, secondly to get into triple figures and then maybe finally to end up further up the rankings than Paddy Power had me (joint 12th). Whatever way this election ends up I've enjoyed being part of the process and learned a lot. As they say if I knew then what I know now I'd have done it all differently.

Campaign Costs

In response to Daniel Sullivan's excellent suggestion to put all donations and expenditure in the public domain, here is the breakdown for my campaign.

Expenses

• Litir Um Thoghchan - 1500
  
• Envelopes, paper, printer toner - 70
  
• Stamps - 200
  
• Website hosting and domain - 80
  

Donations

• Time spent on website design and implementation (6 hours) - 300
  

Thats it. All expenses have been met from my own meagre savings. No cash donations have been sought or accepted.

Progressive and in the Seanad!?

The question was asked, "how can you be a progressive if you want to be in the Seanad?" The implication of course is that only boring, old, conservatives would want to be in the Seanad. Based on the current inhabitants, with notable exceptions, that may be a fairly accurate description but that is more down to the way the chamber is currently filled rather than the type of people who might want to be involved.

What do I mean when I claim to be progressive? Progressivism is the acceptance that the world is changing and that politics needs to keep up. It is the happy medium between conservative inertia and reactionary zeal. It is the path that leads to Now, more than ever, we need to be forward looking and willing to take hold of the opportunities that present themselves. Society will march forward with out without politics. It is the responsibility of politics to keep up with this change and create policy and legislation that enables and facilitates this progress.

Progressivism is often co-aligned with liberalism but it doesn't need to be. However, I have no qualms about also firmly identifying myself as a social liberal and will fight for equality and social justice if elected to the Seanad. On the economic front I am not a free-marketeer. While I accept the right of the marketplace to determine the levels of supply and demand for, and hence the costs of, goods and services, it needs to be properly regulated and supervised to protect the interests of the population at large rather than the interests of the few.

Hopefully this at least partially addresses the original question. As always, comments welcome either here or via twitter!

Too legit to quit

Ah MC Hammer, where are you now? Apart from his awesome (?!) "U Can't Touch This" song with the video featuring super baggy pants, "Too legit to quit" is probably one of his most famous songs. Well as and from now that has become my catchphrase as I have been successfully nominated as one of 20 candidates for the 3 Seanad seats in the Dublin University constituency. Maybe I should take the song on as my campaign tune!

Anyhow, yesterday was a day of mixed emotions. Having signed up all my nominators and assentors I delivered the paperwork to the deputy returning officer at 10am in the Arts Building conference room. They took my email and phone number and said they'd be in contact. Then nothing happened. For ages. And ages. The deadline came and went without a sound from anyone. Luckily I had a couple of meetings to attend and so I wasn't left watching the clock.

At about 3 or so I saw some tweets indicating that 20 candidates had been nominated for the DU election. Surprisingly, or maybe not, various media outlets had been sent a release with the candidate names before the candidates themselves were informed. Luckily within the hour I received an official notification of my successful nomination.

Over the course of the evening I received various messages of support by phone, email, facebook and twitter, some from old friends, some from people I have never met before. It is heartening to feel that the efforts I am making are resonating with at least part of the electorate. I realize that I don't have the high profile of some of the other candidates, but I hope that people will take the time to read about the candidates and vote for candidates that share their viewpoint.

The campaign website is almost ready to go. I just need to find time to take a few photographs and then we'll be in business. Over the weekend I also need to finalize the Litir Um Thoghchan as it needs to be delivered to An Post before the end of next week. Whatever else happens, I'm not going to be kept idle for the foreseeable future.

Paperwork

On first glance the process of getting on the ballot paper for the Seanad election seems pretty trivial. All you need are a nominator, a seconder and then eight assentors all of whom are on the register of electors. Compared to the large number of signatures (or cash payment) required for the General Election or the even more restrictive rules for the Presidency, that seems fairly straight forward.

That is until you actually try to get all the names on a single sheet of paper in a short period of time. Of course the blame for that lies fairly squarely on my shoulders for not having organized this months ago but people do seem to have the most annoying habit of being out of town at exactly the wrong time. Secondly the 10 people all have to remember at which address they have registered their vote for the Seanad election. With most of my supporters being around my age people have moved house several times since registering. Unless they have registered their parents house or equivalent then their name may have been struck off the register without them even realizing.

So the plan is to head into the nomination office at 10am tomorrow when it opens. If I discover that someone is not on the register or has given the incorrect address then it gives me two hours to solve the problem. Hopefully it won't come to that though. Next up I have to have to traditional mug-shot taken for the ballot paper. Wonder if its more a hair up or a hair down type of a day ...

Moving up to Honours

The name of this blog is a throw back to my school days when students who weren't particularly good at the subject at hand took the pass level paper. In more politically correct times this has become the ordinary level paper but to people of my vintage it'll always be "doing pass". As someone who isn't very good at it, pass level politics seemed like a good name to have.

However, now I have decided to throw my hat in the ring for the DU Seanad election which is the equivalent of moving up to the honours class. At the moment the country is crying out for new faces, new names and new ideas. I want to be able to say that I did my part by putting myself in front of the TCD Alumni and asking for their vote. Readers of the blog will know my stance on most issues but I will be putting formal policy statements together over the next few days.

I am under no illusions that this is going to be an simple election. There will be many other fine candidates putting their names forward each with their own unique take on things. I feel that I have the ideas and drive to follow through and be a strong voice for a more rational, progressive Ireland. At the moment I am finalizing my paperwork and getting the campaign website together which should be ready for launching by the weekend. If anyone feels like lending a hand please let me know - the more the merrier as they say!

Dail, heal thyself!

One of the big talking points in the last month, apart from the weather, the date of the election, Jean Byrne's outfits (that might be covered by the first topic), Santa and the IMF/EU has been the institution of the Seanad. About 18 months ago, Enda Kenny went on what was seen as a bit of a solo run when he announced that FG policy was to get rid of the second chamber. More recently the Seanad has had a rough time with the Callely shenanigans, not to mention the continued existence of Donie Cassidy's political career. Then over the festive period, Labour joined the ranks of the dissatisfied calling time on the Seanad followed up by Fianna Fáil's suggestion that a referendum to disband could be held at the same time as the General Election.

Personally, I am not in favour of the drastic step of turning Ireland into a unicameral state. I feel we would be better off reforming the Seanad into a modern, fit for purpose institution as part of a larger set of reforms of the entire political system. The Seanad, even with all its flaws, still produces more considered debate than the Dáil with all its political point scoring and restrictive standing orders ever could.

The composition of the Seanad is usually the first objection to its continued existance. The 6 university senators are seen as the representatives of an elite, the 43 senators elected by the city and county councillors are seen as wannabe or failed TDs and the less said about the 11 appointees the better. Instead I would propose a fixed term Seanad of 5 years with elections held the same time as the local and European elections. 48 senators would be elected on a nationwide poll with constituencies the same as the Europeans with 4 constituencies of 12 seats. The timing of this election would alleviate the problem of rejected TDs retiring to the Seanad for a term. You could also add rules that any candidate for the Seanad elections could not run for the Europeans to avoid the problem of some candidates having a much higher profile in the campaign and also forbid current Senators from running for the Dáil without resigning their seat first.

The remaining 12 would remain as appointees but only with the unanimous agreement of the leaders of the parties and technical groups in the Dáil. This would allow representation of minorities, immigrants and emigrants, the North and other groups like the current vocational panels are meant to. The unanimity would go a long way to avoid political appointees. This newly constituted Seanad would then have an extended remit to examine EU directives that require legislation here, be a driver for further political and social reform and act as a proper check on the power of the Government. To this end the restrictions in Article 21 on Money Bills would need to be removed.

One must also bear in mind what the abolition of the Seanad actually means in practice. Without a second chamber, due to the extremely strict whipping in the Dáil, the Government could effectively push through any legislation it wanted in any timeframe without needing to have an open debate. Through strict control on Dáil sessions, management of committees and judicious use of the guillotine, the government of the day would effectively have free reign apart from the constitutional role given to the President. It is interesting to note that a major revamping of Dáil procedures and standing orders has not accompanied any abolitionist's plan. The proposals from FG and now Labour are nothing more than a naked power grab by the lower chamber feeding on the public disgust with politics in general at the moment.

The other crazy part of this story is the proposed timetable being suggested by Fianna Fáil of holding the referendum on the same day as the General Election. The Seanad is one of the key institutions of the State and appears in many articles in the Constitution as well as numerous pieces of legislation. Considering how difficult it has been to come up with the wording for the Children's Rights amendment, not to mention how it seems impossible to get rid of the Blasphemy clause in the Constitution, it seems implausible that legislation could be prepared in the short timescale that would not end up making a mess of things, especially when the Government claim to be wholly focused on the Finance and Welfare bills.

Yes, the entire political system needs reform from accountable local government all the way up to the role of the President but we need to take a holistic approach. Piecemeal reform will get us nowhere and unilaterally dumping the Seanad as some sort of populist, opportunistic token at reform is one of the worst possible approaches to take.

Women, women everywhere

Sometimes you have to wonder what planet people are living on. Take for example Fiona O'Malley's contribution to the Seanad debate on women's participation in politics. She proposed two ballot papers in each of 60 constituencies, one with men's names and one with women's. Yes it guarantees equality of the sexes in the parliament but it also pretty much guarantees a landslide victory for one party over the rest - it is most likely that both candidates returned from each constituency will be from the same party. It also throws out any idea of proportionality which is one of the major benefits of our current electoral system.

The concept of quotas also brings up the under-representation of lots of other groups in the Dáil. Why isn't there a requirement for the age profile of TDs to be in line with the results of the most recent census? Why don't we have to have a number of TDs representing the unemployed, the sick, atheists, left-handed people? Sure women as a group have gotten the short end of the stick since the dawn of time, but I don't think that stuffing the parliament with them for the sake of appearance will fix it.

Another one bites the dust

Always the bridesmaid, never the bride. That could be the summary of Deirdre DeBurca's political career which appears to have come to an end this morning. DeBurca failed to be elected to the Dail in both the 2002 and 2007 elections in Wicklow, each time being the 2nd last candidate to be eliminated. She was then appointed to the Seanad by Bertie Ahern as part of the deal with the Green party. In the European Elections in June she faced the embarrassing situation of not reaching a quarter of a quota to be able to claim expenses back, while at the same time her arch nemesis Patricia McKenna did. Finally, she picked the wrong week to quit with George Lee having already used up all the column inches on the failure of the political system.

Her resignation letter makes for interesting reading. She says "I can no longer support the Green Party in government, as I believe that we have gradually abandoned our political values and our integrity and in many respects have become no more than an extension of the Fianna Fail party." That is a serious kick in the teeth to John Gormley and the rest of the Green parliamentary party. She follows up with "I have lost confidence in you as Party Leader" which is even more damning.

She continues by outlining the difficulties the Greens have in dealing with Fianna Fáil and FF's unwillingness to engage on issues agreed in both Programmes for Government. This should come as no surprise to anyone who has been following politics over the last few years. It was much easier for the PDs to call the shots because their policies were more closely aligned with FF's. The Greens on the other hand, having an ideology and ethics, were never going to get along with their senior partner. However, DeBurca leaves the knockout punch until the end where she says that things "reached a point where I, and most of the people I know, will be unable to vote Green in the next election." Ouch!

What will be interesting to watch today, is whether DeBurca comes out on the offensive on talk radio like George Lee did on Monday and then to see if Gormley hides like Enda Kenny did. Due to the small number of Green TDs and Senators there aren't many others who can go out and bat for Gormley. Dan Boyle and Eamonn Ryan will do their bit but I would strongly advise against putting Mary White or Paul Gogarty on the national airwaves.

New representative in the Rotten Borough

This morning they counted the votes in the Seanad byelection caused by the election of Labour's Alan Kelly to the European Parliament in June. Under the rules, even though Councillors, TDs and outgoing Senators can vote for the various panels immediately after a general election, only sitting members of the houses of the Oireachtas can vote for casual vacancies. Talk about making a closed shop even more closed. Of course this happens to work in favour of the government at the moment as had all Councillors had been allowed to vote, the seat would have been retained by the opposition - probably swinging from Lab to FG unless a deal was struck.

In the end the Green's Niall Ó'Brolcháin, former Galway City Councillor and Mayor, was elected by taking 119 of the 205 valid votes cast. This is the same person who after losing his seat in Galway City Council in the local elections in June announced his retirement from public life and who also suggested that the Greens should leave their current coalition if FG and Lab made them an offer. It will be interesting to see if he continues in his maverick (but not Gogarty-esque) ways or will he have to toe the line now that he is part of the establishment.

Enda versus the Seanad

So Enda Kenny has put the cat amongst the pigeons with his speech last Saturday night where he proposed the abolition of Seanad Éireann and a reduction in the number of TDs elected to the Dáil. This seems to have come as quite a shock to even his on parliamentary party as FG representatives clogged up the airwaves over the last few days with protests.

The Seanad is made up of 60 members elected or appointed in the following manner

• 11 appointed directly by the Taoiseach
• 6 elected by university graduates (3 TCD, 3 NUI)
• 43 from vocational panels as follows
• 7 from administrative
• 11 from agricultural
• 5 from education and culture
• 9 from industrial and commerce
• 11 from labour

In theory this is meant to allow people from each of the respective groups in society influence policy through ammending legislation in the upper chamber. In practice, the Seanad has become a resting home for those who loose their seats in the Dáil, potential Dáil candidates of the future who could do with some experience or (worst of all) people to whom the Taoiseach of the day feels a certain obligation (eg Eoghan Harris).

The main problem with Enda Kenny's plan is that he needs to pass a referendum to abolish the Seanad. Articles 18 and 19 outline the requirements and role of the Seanad and both articles would have to be removed. After a succesful referendum, legislation would have to be passed to repeal the enabling legislation. Realistically the Seanad would cease to exist when the general election after the next one is called - sometime between 2015 and 2017 most likely.

The funniest part of this whole situation is that the most vocal opponents of this proposal are the very same FG senators who pretty much to a man will be elected to the Dail next time out. Perhaps they should just keep their heads down and stop drawing attention to the fact that Enda has gone off on yet another solo run.