Our proposal centres around nationwide sectoral panels and direct elections which will focus attention on the Seanad. More must be done to address the increasing disconnection with the current political system. Issues-based campaigns are essential to encourage wider participation in national politics at electoral and candidate levels. Nationwide, issues based panels offer the best way of producing such campaigns on an ongoing basis. That they would be nationwide recognises the solidarity existing between voters across constituency boundaries and society and the fact that the way in which we interact is not solely a product of the area in which we live. It also reflects the fact that national issues and national legislation are exactly that.
The particular panels we propose in our submission are flexible, but at the core is the principle that panels in themselves will radicalise debate and enable voters and candidates to opt for the areas of greatest interest to themselves and in which they may have significant expertise. There are many people outside the party system who can and wish to offer public service on issues of concern to them through their employment or personal experience. Many of the Dáil's Independent Deputies may find a more appropriate home in the Seanad. Our proposal that voters choose a single panel, to which to elect and which they can change, constitutes a positive and empowering act of choice which ensures that they would feel attached to their panel and its issues. They would more closely follow their particular Senators and the campaigns they undertook. The only difference in effort between this and offering the citizens the choice to vote for a local constituency is the empowering decision to choose the panel or issue on which they vote. It will also force candidates and nominating bodies, including the political parties, to focus their efforts on mobilising the vote and on re-registration. This will result in a truly participatory democracy with beneficial effects primarily in terms of turnout.
While it is not critical to the central message of direct elections to nationwide panels, the election of the Seanad on the same day as the Dáil would have tremendous benefits for both Houses. It would enhance the credibility of the Seanad elections, bolster turnout and create equivalence of legitimacy with the Dáil. Adopting this new approach would avoid rendering the Seanad merely the by-product of a mid-term poll of the Government's popularity. It would force candidates to make a deliberate choice to pursue a seat in one House or the other. Moreover, the Seanad driven turnout of voters most interested in issues-based politics would have the great and beneficial effect of encouraging citizens, especially those among the younger generation, to choose their Government through local Deputies. Given that we propose direct election of representatives on the basis of national issues, a general election is the most appropriate context in which to elect them.
Direct election to nationwide, issues based panels would create electoral transparency, popular accountability, democratic legitimacy and, consequently, a more efficient revising Chamber. This proposal addresses one of the central problems in our democracy, namely the growing disconnection between the issues of interest to citizens and the debate in our national Legislature. The Seanad's founders understood that our nation's politics would change and evolve and we should meet the challenges of a changing society to connect with voters by making this House accountable to the people. We should create a House which balances but, importantly, does not rival the Dáil. Such a House would be better placed to fulfil its role in the scrutiny and revision of legislation and it would be creative. Citizens would feel connected to such a Seanad.
