Galway-based Senator Fidelma Healy Eames has called for the Seanad to tour the country in a similar way to the circuit court.  

While Leinster House is being renovated, it has been proposed that the Seanad will sit in Dublin’s Natural History Museum. However, it is now thought that this will not be possible due to space constraints in the museum.

“The Seanad move should be viewed as an opportunity to bring the Upper House of our parliament closer to the people. While there is much speculation as to where the Seanad should relocate to within the Pale, why not see this as an opportunity to rotate it between the regions outside the pale. We have many fine locations and institutes throughout the country (eg. our ITs. third level colleges) that would be suitable for housing Seanad Éireann temporarily,” said Senator Healy Eames.

However, her Seanad colleague and fellow Galway native Ciarán Cannon told the Galway Independent he didn’t “see the point” of such an experiment.

“Our time spent in the Seanad is valuable enough without a nationwide tour. It would be seen as a cynical exercise, and I don’t think it would succeed in bringing the Seanad and its workings to the people,” he said.

Senator Healy Eames suggested the move as a “novel experiment in democracy and regional understanding” and said it would be an “eye opener”. She added that 43 of the current 60 senators had toured Ireland to meet the electorate and said that this would be a way of getting them engaged with local government. 
 

“Senators would have to move but then inconvenience is an on-going feature of a public representative's life - after all, country-based senators travel to Dublin every week, so there is nothing new in that. If there is a will to make this happen, it can happen.”

However, Senator Cannon said the time of both Senators and civil servants would be better served by continuing the work both are currently doing. “It would be a horrendous waste of time, especially for civil servants who are already very busy with the work we do in the Seanad.”

Senator Healy Eames criticised the perception of the Seanad as irrelevant, and said she had experienced the interest of the general public in her work there, but added that the Dáil was not always as interesting to follow in media coverage.

“We have a responsibility as elected public representatives to make our houses of parliament become a real feature of people's lives. What better way to begin the 'often spoke about, little done about' process of Seanad reform,” she concluded.

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