Senator Zappone's Seanad article source linked

Senator Katherine Zappone wrote this article for the SBP giving examples of contributions that Seantors made to law whether they were officially amendments passed by them or not. I have tried to find source links for every example Senator Zappone gives, and put them in spreadsheet and inserted them in a copy of the article below.

.@LFSR2 All amendments accepted for Personal Insolvency Bill were Government amendments. #seanref #voteyes

— Fine Gael Official (@FineGaelToday) September 9, 2013

All Personal Insolvency Bill Seanad amendments were Govt. Not even one by any Senator #Seanad

— Charlie Flanagan (@CharlieFlanagan) September 9, 2013

etc.

It should bother you that among this talk of Dail Reform that politicians are discounting Senators contributions to bills, think, they could say the same thing about the Dail TD's contribution, if all amendments to bills were 'government amendments' we can get rid of all opposition TDs, most TDs, no need for them.

This seemed to be the attitude of Fine Gael deputy referendum director Regina Doherty on Tonight with Vincent Browne this week when he challenged his guests about the strictness of the whip harming democracy and making the government unaccountable, she said that government TDs vote for laws drafted by government and as they had majority of TDs their votes always passed and the opposition always lost she didn't see a problem with this. So Regina what are opposition TDs for? Why are they in the Dail at all?

One presumes she excepts that if an opposition TD makes a good point or amendment that if the government agrees with politically it will be incorporated into the bill, by adoption of the amendments by government or through the whips allowing the majority to vote for the opposition amendment, this happens very rarely. But is this as far as it goes? Doherty pretended not to get that there needs to be an element of democracy within the Dail itself to hold the government to account, and that the backbench TDs shouldn't simply be lobby fodder.

Argue for Seanad abolition as hard as you want, it is archaic and elitist but by repeating this idea that Senators make no contribution to laws that the government passed, by discounting them completely you are also diminishing the contribution of TDs in the Dail, the house we'll be left with, and I presume you want their contributions to be acknowledged and be increased.

Sunday Business Post Opinion: Democracy’s the victim if Seanad is abolished

The Seanad is an important part of the law making process and a counterweight to the government.

In light of recent polls, optimism is rising that the unwarranted referendum on the abolition of the Seanad will fail next October.

I welcome this development. I strongly argue that the Seanad is in need of reform, but it is most definitely not in need of abolition. To abolish the institution without setting out how its functions are to be replaced is beyond folly -- it is simply dangerous to democracy in this state.

The costs argument presented by Minister for Enterprise Richard Bruton is an indefensible red herring. The real issue is about how power is exercised.

Checks and balances

Nearly 50 years ago, the Report of the Committee on the Constitution of 1967 [link?] stressed the importance of the Seanad in the context of the principle of checks and balances by saying how vital it is to "have a safeguard against ill-considered or hasty action on the part of the first house [the Dáil]" that can give "more comprehensive treatment" to "important technical matters" regarding legislation.

In the absence of meaningful reform of either the Dáil or local government, the necessity of upholding this principle is now more urgent in Ireland than it ever was.

One key function of the Seanad is to scrutinise independently-proposed legislation and bring the government of the day to account.

The strengthening of the party whip mechanism in recent years translates to a Dáil that does not so much represent constituents, but rather rubber stamps policy handed down from upon high by the Cabinet. As a result it is a Dáil where nuanced debate on key legislation and policy is stifled: it's either compliant or acrimonious and not much in-between.

In contrast, members of the Seanad have tabled 529 amendments to 14 Bills that have been passed over the past two years. Being credited for their particular amendments is generally not a priority of senators -- their focus is on strengthening the reach of the particular legislation. As a result, data that maps Seanad inputs that have been subsumed in legislation is lacking.

I know, for example, that the exemption from local property tax that children and youth organisations enjoy came about because of Senator Jillian van Turnhout's recommendations.[ Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2013, Noonan adopts amendment, Minister for Finance Michael Noonan credits Senator van Turnhout with the amendment even though all amendments were government amendments ] As a result of exchanges I had in the Seanad, three Finance Acts were amended (regarding equivalence in taxation law between spouses and civil partners).[ Finance bills 1, 2, 3 ] Likewise, as a direct result of the expert knowledge in the Seanad, the Education and Training Boards Bill 2012 ensures the inclusion of learner organisations' representatives on Education and Training Boards. [ Minister for Education Ruairi Quinn acknowledging Senators on focus on learner organisations ] I facilitated the access of civil society organisations to influence the Personal Insolvency Bill 2012 that resulted in the inclusion of minimum income guidelines for debtors in the legislation. [ Alan Shatter credits a number of government amendments to Senators ] [ The InsolvencyJournal.ie credits Senators with improvements to the PIB].

These, and many equivalent legislative inputs, are categorised as government amendments, thereby 'disappearing' the role of Seanad members. Ordinarily, this is not important, but now in the context of Seanad abolition on the rationale of its purported 'irrelevance' it is useful to help voters get a deeper sense of what business is actually done there.

Democratic deliberation

Besides scrutinising proposed legislation, another vital function of the Seanad is to initiate and explore issues of public interest and concern.

The Independent group of Taoiseach's nominees, to which I belong, put forward two motions on the issue of the future of prostitution legislation,[ 1, 2 ] as a result of which the issue was brought to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality.

A huge public consultation took place and a report was issued, with radical recommendations for changes in legislation, which are being laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas.

Senator Mary Ann O'Brien tabled a motion on the need to establish a Charities Regulator that was debated in the Seanad. [Charities Regulation: Motion] In mid-July of this year, the Minister for Justice and Equality [Alan Shatter] announced this would be created soon. Again, this is one of many examples of how deliberation on issues of policy and law is integral to the Seanad's work.

Generating ideas for law and policy

The Seanad has long been a site where new ideas for law and policy have been generated. There are many such examples: Senator Feargal Quinn's Construction Contracts Bill has now passed into law, and Senator Ivana Bacik introduced the Civil Registration (Amendment) Act [ a private members bill in 2011 that the Minister recognised led to the Civil Registration (Amendment) Bill 2012 that was enacted] that allows humanists to officiate at marriages, while Senator Kelly's Wind Turbines Bill 2012 passed to Committee stage last year.

My own Legal Recognition of Gender Bill 2013 that offers a simple legal pathway to gender recognition can justifiably be seen to have triggered the unexpected publication of the long-awaited Heads of Bill on the same issue. The Minister for Justice will be seeking the opinion of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission regarding section 37 of the Equal Status Act, triggered by a Bill sponsored by Senator Power.

Exercising power

I think we need to have the capacity to ensure there are constraints on a sitting government in the form of checks and balances.

Should the government's abolition bid fail at the referendum, let that be a mandate for reform. The government has already accepted a bill for radical Seanad reform proposed by Senator Feargal Quinn and myself.

As an electorate, we can reject spurious argument and insist on expansion of our democratic capacity rather than endangering it.

In my opinion, on this particular issue, we need to exercise our power, and vote no on October 4.

Dr Katherine Zappone is an Independent Senator

Lisbon referendum results 3d map

Trying to see if its worth putting this in 3d and how best to visualize the votes. At the moment it hard to see the difference in yes and no. ETA June 13th. I've gotten the results for Lisbon treaty and added them to many eyes that I described in my previous post. Lisbon Treaty 2008 Visualisations

With the help of sgrillo's GE-Graph

The google earth in browser API is quite heavy so lets try another new thing from google, static maps. With the help of Peel me a grape coder blog

Nahh that work either starting map as ordinary sat view with earth browser option.

Updated with Lisbon 2008 referendum results: NO % constituency.

If you don't see any 3d maps you need a quick download and read of requirements of the google earth in browser plug-inDirect download

Updated with Lisbon 2008 referendum results: Yes % by constituency.

Results from Referendum Commission.
electionsireland.org

Compare with displays of results by rte.ie
ireland.com.

What I like about google maps is that you can it use to produce 2d maps of good quality and variation too. No need to redo in flash.

Wholesale education reform Ireland

RTE teachers union conference round-up

Hearing that teacher union conference season was coming up I checked the ASTI,INTO and TUI websites for motions to conference, there are few there but no mention of religion or wholesale education reform.

We had to depend on David Quinn and John Walshe to inject and reform religion into the conferences.

Bishops seek religion veto on teachers in new schools

Parents demand right to pick schools for children

David Quinn is desperately trying to create a particular conflict between state and parents that doesn't exist. I wrote more about it here when he brought it up a second time his his drivel column. The RED C poll he bought says 48% percent don't want catholic schools, he claims that 47% want catholic run schools but I doubt they want to pay for them all themselves, thus the state takes the taxes and redistributes the money in a more equatable way including setting up secular schools that suit most people.

In the RTE interview the bishop says he wants church vetted catholic teachers to teach Catholicism to primary school children during the school day, but as the interview points out as opposed to secondary schools there's only one teacher per class in primary school,so are they suggesting they've had to employ a Jewish Muslim orthodox, bahai, Hindu, Baptist, protestant teacher for each school? but hey it'llprobably end being Catholic teacher won't it.

Church Vetting

“When a post is advertised for a teacher of religion, an interview board is set up, usually made up of five people. If the post is for a teacher of religious education, the patron has a right to have one nominee on the board. That is not a veto but an input” he said.

How could this possibly work in a diverse school?

Mary Hanafin the Minster for Education and the church keep saying they want to provide schools that cater for every creed but its clear that she and the Bishop are continuing to presume privilege for Catholicism in Irish schools.

Also John Carr of INTO is asked 3 times in the RTE interview whether denominational religion should be taught during the compulsory school day in the new style VEC's or outside like ET schools, he never answers clearly either way.

The teachers have chosen to raise one important issue that is which would be benefit to them and students the reneging on promised class sizes reductions.

But where's is the call from the unions for wholesale education reform, tinkering around the edges won't solve the problems. Some might say that there is more important things in schooling in Ireland then arguing about the half-hearted religious education they get nowadays but so many of the problems stem from the abdication of responsibility by the state. From water charges (cos the schools are private rather the public buildings) to underfunding, to employment contracts, BOMs, liability, to lack of schools for new populations etc, etc.

Forum to study how primary schools are managed

So Hanafin has announced a one day forum to review management structures...,Does she think they have it sorted in a couple of hours?

Where are the green and white papers, the Oireachtas committees, the Bills of legislation being drafted debated in the Seanad and Dail the public meetings the manifesto proposals for local elections?

The pilot VEC schools are moving ahead because of the desperate need and none lack of specific legislation on this shouldn't delay them but where is the democratic and political processes that are needed to change this twisted system!?

As an knowledgeable commentator says in reference to lazy claim in the Indo editorial

Quote: "Even atheists acknowledge the splendid role played by the Irish Catholic Church in education over the decades."

Quote: Ahem, I'm an atheist and I object to that outrageous statement. The Irish national school system was originally setup to be non-denominational and treat all children as equals. It was gradually taken over by the various churches, including the catholic church. This was not out of charity, but to monopolise education to ensure that undesirable ideas, like women's liberation, were not taught.

Posted by Kevin Byrne

There still this inexplicable softness towards the spiteful Hanafin, Sean Moloney said on Newstalk that education system was a 'victim of its own success' which is similar to how Frank Fahey said Irish traffics jams were a 'sign of success'?. No they are sign of lack of forward planning, while the Irish education system does seem to be capable of teaching most how to read and write and add its creaking at the seems for decades.

Now Hanafin tells us there an economic downturn and there is not as much money available while some schools have probably been waiting (in prefabs) for improvements during the 10 year boom and before it.