My column in The Kerryman. 16 October, 2013
There are own-goals and there are own-goals. Enda Kenny’s failed referendum on abolishing the Seanad is without doubt one of the more memorable ones. While we in Kerry did vote to rid ourselves of the parasitic Seanad, too many people in the rest of Ireland didn’t agree with us.
As a result Kenny has been left looking rather silly. He didn’t exactly cost his team an All Ireland title with this own-goal, but he certainly didn’t help their cause. Before the vote I argued in this column that the result of this referendum would in reality mean little to anyone. The Seanad, being a powerless talking-shop for failed politicians, would not be missed nor would its retention mean anything. Though it kind of looks like I might be wrong about that as there are now some unsettling rumblings about reforming the Seanad.
Reforming this nonsense of an assembly would be piling injury onto insult. We’ll now have to endure embarrassing and witless wind-bagging from the great and the good about how best the remake the Upper House into something relevant and democratic. They’ll mouth empty platitudes as they window-dress this nonsensical assembly. They’ll promise all sorts but they’ll be deathly careful to not create a second Dáil or worse, give it the power to thwart a sitting government. They’ll strike serious poses and look meaningfully into the camera, but under no circumstances will they attempt any change so far-reaching as to require another referendum.
This parody will continue until the major beneficiaries of the present system, the political insiders, are certain we’ve been distracted by the budget and Christmas and anything else that actually matters. Then they’ll allow the status quo to continue uninterrupted. I bet most of us have already moved on.
There may be another referendum in a few decades time, to do something or other about this pointless body, but until then we can comfortably behave as if this silly little thing doesn’t even exist. That at least is some comfort.
Kenny’s own-goal has ramifications beyond the parasitic Seanad. It was such a tiny margin of defeat. Just over 40,000, out of an electorate of three million plus, though the majority of people made their feeling known by not bothering to vote. Could he have swayed those few people by debating with the opportunistic and hypocritical Michael Martin? We’ll never know for sure, but the memory of Kenny shying away from explaining his opinions on television of the Seanad will persist.
He made himself look weak or too in thrall to his faceless handlers. Worse than appearing weak and uncommitted, he also managed to reenergise the party that destroyed the country, Fianna Fáil. He reenergised them by holding a referendum on a non-issue and then failed to get his hands dirty. That must sting worse than losing the referendum itself.
By failing to be the standard bearer of this single, most visible plank of reform, Kenny not only damaged his own credibility, but also the credibility of reform itself. It’s ironic then, that without credible reform, Kenny remains the unassailable leader of a government without checks.
A less powerful government might mean more successful governance and a less powerful Enda Kenny might be a much more successful Taoiseach.
