31 minute read
Seanad Clerk Martin Groves discusses his role and priorities
Clerk of the Seanad: Martin Groves
Seanad Clerk and Returning Officer Martin Groves sits down with Ciarán Galway to discuss Seanad Office functions and priorities, alongside Covid mitigation and plans for the future.
Increasing broadly in line with the expansion of digitalisation since the midto late-1990s and the establishment of the independent Houses of the Oireachtas Commission in 2004, the Oireachtas has experienced a significant uptick in activity in recent times.
Amid this proliferation of activity, the Seanad Office is tasked with supporting sittings of Seanad Éireann as well as providing secretariats to three in-house committees: the Committee on Parliamentary Privileges and Oversight; the Seanad Public Consultation Committee; and the Committee of Selection.
While the weekly schedule of business is set by the Leader of the Seanad, currently Fine Gael Senator Regina Doherty, the Seanad Office subsequently produces the Order Paper for the Seanad, reflecting the sequencing in the schedule. The Seanad Office adds new business, or new bills tabled by members, motions, and amendments to motions, to the Order Paper.
“An Order Paper must be produced each day and the procedural materials coming into the Seanad Office and motions tabled by members must be edited and reviewed for compliance with the Standing Orders, issued to members, and placed on the Order Paper,” Groves explains.
“Commencement matters which raise issues of topical interest are accepted daily and between 15 and 20 members might submit a matter which they are hoping to have selected by the Cathaoirleach and taken in the course of debate the following day. These are processed, communicated to departments, and occasionally, there may be questions of standing order compliance which must be dealt with. On a day-to-day basis, that is a significant workload of the Seanad Office.”
Structure
The Houses of the Oireachtas Service is statutorily obliged to provide services to both houses of the Oireachtas. As such, HR services, financial services, and even some procedural services, are provided jointly to both houses. Meanwhile, the core procedural work of the Seanad is serviced by the Seanad Office and its relatively small staffing cohort.
Since 2017, it has been headed by Groves as Clerk, assisted by the Clerk Assistant and a support staff of four people, at grades ranging from assistant principal to clerical officer.
“Bridget Doody, the Clerk Assistant is the most important administrative relationship that I have,” Groves asserts, adding: “The Clerk Assistant supports me by managing the Seanad Office staff, while also taking the lead on the day-today organisation of the business of the House and the preparation for sittings of the Seanad.”
Advice
Providing a fundamental basis for the procedural advice imparted to the Cathaoirleach and seanadóirí by the Seanad Office, the Standing Orders of Seanad Éireann are the rules which govern how the business of the Seanad, and its committees is conducted.
“My job as Clerk, and the job of the Seanad Office, is to advise the Cathaoirleach and senators on how the Standing Orders should be applied to the business of the House,” Groves outlines.
“The Standing Orders have been interpreted and applied over time. That has resulted in an evolution of their application. We monitor the way they have developed and consult precedent carefully before making any recommendation.”
Priorities
In his own role as Clerk and Seanad Returning Officer, Groves has three main priorities. The first, in the context of the pandemic, is ensuring that sittings of the Seanad continue to take place and that they are well run, notwithstanding the obstacles that the pandemic has thrown up.
The second priority is securing adequate resourcing of the Seanad Office. “The resourcing here needs to be appropriate to the job at hand,” the Clerk says, noting: “Managing the day-to-day activity is one element, but I must also secure a good systems development capacity, to help us develop the electoral systems, my part of the Oireachtas Digital Transformation Programme and the Seanad Office’s procedural capacity and skills.”
The third component of Groves’ priorities, as Seanad Returning Officer for the 43 vocational panel seats, is modernisation of the electoral system. “The current electoral systems have been in place for many years and have served us well for a very long time, however, they need to be updated. We have software for the recording and output of results at election counts, for instance, that is approaching the end of its life.
“The Seanad electoral process is quite complex and anything I can do to make that process a little bit easier for all the people who are involved is something that I am interested in.” Another significant element of the role of Clerk is membership of three statutory commissions. These are: the Standards in Public Office Commission; the Referendum Commission; and the Constituency Commission.
In the modern era, the Clerk remains the chief procedural advisor to the Cathaoirleach and the chief recorder of the decisions of the House. Fundamentally, the core role is unchanged, even if some of the broader systems have developed or moved on. At the same time, Groves acknowledges that, as a member of the Management Board of a statutorily independent organisation, “the range and depth of corporate work has increased and because of that, the amount of time that the Clerk must devote to that work has certainly grown”.
Covid crisis
Across the public service, the Covid crisis has had a major impact, forcing the adoption of new ways of working that had never been considered before. It had several specific impacts on Seanad Office.
At the beginning of 2020, while the Covid crisis was developing, the Seanad Office was beginning the process of preparing for the Seanad general election; a complex process involving postal votes over a period of several months. “We ran the process as we normally would, but there were several imponderables along the way. For instance, a voter must go to 4
an authorised person and vote in their presence, so how was that going to be affected? Thankfully, through social distancing and other measures, the system worked successfully. The counting of votes, a five-day process overseen by Groves as Returning Officer, in line with Covid restrictions, was a big logistical challenge.
“Once the election was over, we had to hold the first meeting of the Seanad and we were very restricted in how we could do that. The first two meetings, during which the Cathaoirleach and the LeasChathaoirleach were elected, were held in the Convention Centre. Subsequently, we infrequently met in the Convention Centre and Seanad chamber, primarily using the Dáil chamber instead. As such, we had to adapt our sitting schedule to avoid clashes with Dáil sittings,” Groves recalls.
Usual voting arrangements could not operate during the crisis and instead, rollcall votes took place with members socially distanced. This arrangement is still in place, with the intention of returning to electronic voting once the crisis abates.
Meanwhile, a challenge faced by both houses is that servicing sittings is an inherently hands-on, in-person operation. “While staff worked from home as much as possible, it is necessary during sittings to have most of our core staff in the office. Managing social distancing and interactions, while still delivering the job to a high standard, is an ongoing challenge,” Groves observes.
Profile
A native of Coolock, Dublin, Martin Groves has been a civil servant for almost 40 years. Having started in the Department of Posts and Telegraphs in 1983, Groves remained with the newly established Telecom Éireann for several years before moving to the Department of Defence in the mid-1980s. In 1992, he joined the staff of the Houses of the Oireachtas and has been there since, working in a wide range of areas including several parliamentary committees, all of the main procedural offices, as well as finance officer, before becoming Clerk Assistant of the Seanad in 2014 and Clerk in 2017.
Centenary
Looking ahead to the centenary of the establishment of the Free State Senate in December 2022, the Seanad envisages a programme of events comprising lectures and exhibitions, culminating in a special sitting to coincide with the centenary on 11 December.
“One of the themes we will examine is the rationale for establishing the original Seanad and the subsequent retention of the Seanad in its current form under the 1937 Constitution. Part of this rationale was to ensure representation for the Protestant or unionist minority and to provide it with assurance at the foundation of the State that its voices would be heard at the centre.
“Over the years, one particular strength of the Seanad has been the involvement of women and the proportion of women –currently around 40 per cent – who are members of the Seanad. In broader terms, the Seanad has often been a place where minority voices could be represented and where minority issues could be raised, sometimes with successful results.”
Vision
Outlining his vision for a better resourced Seanad Office, with the capacity to not only service the sittings of the House and the committees, but also to take full advantage of technology to improve systems, Groves concludes: “There is an ongoing discussion between the Secretary General of the Houses and myself in terms of reviewing the Seanad Office staffing cohort.
“I would certainly hope to increase the resources available to the Office and to restructure it in a way that allows it to be divided into one group – focused on the day-to-day business of the House and its committees – alongside a project development group. I think we need that capacity and there is an ongoing and positive discussion about that.”
Senior Public Service appointments
Published in November 2021, the Report on the Processes and Procedures Applying to the Appointment of Senior Executives in the Public Service made 14 specific recommendations.
Inset, left: John McGuinness TD, Cathaoirleach of the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach Inset, right: Catherine Murphy TD, Leas-Chathaoirleach of the Committee of Public Accounts
The 288-page report is the culmination of work undertaken by the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach, as well as members of the Committee of Public Accounts (PAC).
Launching the report, Cathaoirleach of the Joint Committee, John McGuinness TD, outlines the rationale for this work as being an attempt to “unravel how the decision to appoint Mr Robert Watt as interim Secretary General of the Department of Health was arrived at and how the recruitment process which ended with his appointment was conducted”.
After government formation in early 2020, a vacancy emerged in the post of Secretary General of the Department of Health. While this was filled on an acting basis, formal recruitment did not occur until January 2021. The then Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER), Robert Watt, was requested to move to the Department of Health on an interim basis, pending open competition. Simultaneously, the Minister for Public Expenditure and reform sanctioned an €81,000 salary increase, bringing the total salary for the permanent post to €292,000.
Following open competition, Watt was successful in his application for the permanent post and was appointed in April 2021, agreeing to waive the salary increase “until the economy begins to recover and unemployment falls”.
However, the report concludes that “no formal procedures or benchmarking processes were followed in either making the interim appointment or agreeing to a salary increase of 40 per cent for the permanent appointee”. The formal recruitment process, it suggests, should have begun in October 2020, removing the requirement for an interim appointment and “much of the difficulty that arose in this regard”.
Remarking on the insufficient recordkeeping for such a significant appointment and associated salary increase, the report also criticises “the lack of engagement by the majority of those who were requested either to provide information and/or attend a meeting of the Committee”.
In total, the report makes 14 recommendations to “ensure sufficient transparency, openness, and accountability” by establishing “robust processes and procedures in the appointment and setting salaries for senior civil and public servants”. Significantly, these include a formal appointment process for all senior public service posts (interim and permanent); the re-establishment of the Top-Level Appointments Commission (TLAC) as a wholly independent body, distinct and separate from DPER; and the proposed creation of a formal Head of the Civil Service role be established “to ensure adequate oversight of secretaries general and so that disciplinary matters can be dealt with, should they arise”.
Leas-Chathaoirleach of the PAC, Catherine Murphy TD outlines: “Members of the Committee of Public Accounts were very concerned at the manner of the interim appointment to the post of Secretary General of the Department of Health and the €81,000 pay increase for the post. The complete absence of the use of normal procedures and the 40 per cent pay increase for the post required examination. The failure to benchmark the new salary to a similar position in the public service only added to that concern.”
Around the ard fheiseanna
Three of the Dáil’s five largest parties recently held ard fheiseanna, with Sinn Féin signalling its intent to take power in Leinster House, the Green Party defending its record in government and Labour laying out its conditions for returning to government.
Sinn Féin: Is the South next?
With the party topping polls north and south of the border, the Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald TD told the party’s 2021 ard fheis that a Sinn Féin government in Dublin would put workers and families first.
“The pandemic exposed the broken system in a partitioned Ireland, politics for the few at the expense of the many that brought a housing crisis, rip-off rents, overcrowded hospitals, record waiting lists, and a crushing cost of living,” the Sinn Féin President said in her speech. “The writing is on the wall for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. They have been in government for far too long. Things were bad enough when these parties pretended to oppose each other, but by god things have gone to the dogs since the boys clubbed together.”
McDonald also took aim at the DUP, dubbing their recent refusal to attend meetings of the North-South Ministerial Council and their anti-Protocol movements and rhetoric “electioneering and showboating” and “attempts to block the change so many people from all communities demand”.
Pointing to Stormont Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey MLA’s “biggest transformational housing plan in a generation”, McDonald pledged that a Sinn Féin government will “build public and affordable housing on a massive scale”, expand Magee University in Derry to supply more healthcare workers in Ireland, restore the right to retire at 65, and tackle “large corporate polluters”.
With Sinn Féin simultaneously topping the polls on both sides of the border, the possibility of the party having both the Taoiseach in Dublin and the First Minister in Stormont now seems real. On political unionism’s threats to withdraw from Stormont in the event of a Sinn Féin First Minister, both McDonald and party Vice President and deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill MLA utilised similar rhetoric. “If Sinn Féin emerges as the largest party, we will nominate Michelle O’Neill as First Minister,” McDonald said. “The days of ‘Fenians need not apply’ are over.”
O’Neill said: “The DUP has declared that a Sinn Féin First Minister after the next election would give unionism a real problem. Well, let me be crystal clear: the days of nationalists need not apply are gone. The days of denying abortion rights to women, to LGBT citizens, and Irish language speakers are gone. It is for the people to decide the next First Minister, not the DUP. Sinn Féin is aiming to return as the biggest party, not for the sake of it, but to deliver change.”
Green Party: Transition to green economy ‘inevitable’
Green Party leader and Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications and Transport Eamon Ryan TD told his party’s national conference in November that the transition to a green economy is now “inevitable” and that the Government commitment to the halving of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 is non-negotiable.
“That is what the science says we must do, if we are to avoid runaway climate change,” Ryan said. “It is the ambition at the centre of our Programme for Government. The risk isn't from taking action; the real risk is from standing back and doing nothing at all.
“It is an inevitable transition because under business as usual, the world will simply burn. The only question is: Do we want to change now, or do we want to wait to try and catch up later when it will cost us much, much more?”
The Green Party received 7.1 per cent of the vote in the 2020 general election, a 4.4 per cent increase that delivered a nine-seat increase that allowed the party to re-enter government with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, with the Programme for Government agreed in June 2020. Since the agreement of the Government formation, the Green Party’s polling figures have suffered; of the 41 recognised polls between July 2020 and the end of November 2021, only one, the Ipsos MRBI/Irish Times poll published on 5 October 2021, has shown it returning as high as 7 per cent.
Party deputy leader and Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media Catherine Martin TD defended the decision to go into coalition: “Together we are a green team that understands the hard graft and activism it takes to make change happen, not to just talk about what might or could be some time in the future, nor to stay politically safer on opposition benches.
“We are exactly where we need to be in this green decade of change. Our time is now.”
Labour: A fairer and kinder Ireland
Labour Party leader Alan Kelly TD used his first address as party leader to take aim at parties who are ‘telling lies’ and to call for the making of a “fairer, kinder, better” Ireland at Labour’s national conference.
Stating that the party is “passionate about delivering a real alternative for our people”, Kelly stated that they would only enter government under two conditions: “Firstly, will our core policies be implemented? And secondly, can we trust the moral compass of those who aspire to govern with us?”
Without naming names, Kelly made it clear that his trust of other parties is circumspect at best when discussing taxation and public spending: “At every Budget, Labour puts forward our alternative fully costed proposals and we’re upfront about how we would pay for it: by taxing wealth, not work, and by closing loopholes. Too many parties are peddling the myth that we can have both tax cuts and public spending.
“It’s a con job. It’s total lies. They are lying to the Irish people, pure and simple. Populist nonsense that all Labour Party representatives will always call out.”
Credit: Merrion Street
TRADE UNION DESK
We need a government prepared to create a new social contract, one that puts workers, tenants, and pensioners ahead of the 1 per cent, asserts Unite’s Brendan Ogle.
There is currently much justified political commentary about our current, and growing, pension crisis. I say ‘political commentary’ because, while the matter is political in every respect, the discussion avoids the political hot potato issues that underpin the crisis in the same way that Irish political commentary generally ignores most inconvenient truths. The inconvenient truth this time?
The labour and housing markets are both deliberately designed and constructed in a manner that can only perpetuate and grow a pension crisis.
The easy elements that make up the crisis are routinely discussed in a circular fashion that takes the issue nowhere. For example, many people quite rationally expect their state pension at age 65 and righteously oppose the age increases that have taken place. Moreover, the full pension (which not everyone gets) of €12,912 may be ‘generous’ by international standards, but it is not that much over half of what a full-time worker gets on the minimum wage (€20,685). How comfortable are the lives of our massive band of minimum-waged workers? Not very.
As we listen to the daily news cycle, we learn that 20 per cent of householders are now renters, a figure that has doubled in a decade, and that 58,000 people aged in their 50s are renting. When we then consider that one-fifth of private sector renters pay over 40 per cent of their income on their rent, we can see the problem shining a big flashing light (Rory Hearne is doing herculean work in this regard): “Low pay and high rents, both of which are not alone deliberate government policies but ideological holy grails, are intrinsic to the pension crisis and it will not be possible to solve it without addressing both.”
Consider pay. There are two things medium- and well-paid people can do that low-paid people simply cannot do, and both are in the nation’s long-term interests. The first thing they do is contribute more tax to the central exchequer to enable the payment of the state pension. This seems so obvious that it should hardly need to be stated at all, but it is never stated in the pension debates I hear. You cannot have a pension fund, public or private, without contributions to that fund. The money must come from somewhere and, in the case of the state pension, ‘somewhere’ is taxes paid by workers and consumers.
The more we earn the more tax we pay, and the better we as a nation can afford both our increased longevity and a lower proportion of us being in work to pay ‘contributions’ (taxes) too.
The second thing that low-paid workers generally cannot do is to make their own private pension provision. Private pensions, and their attached costs and fees, are routinely presented by the avaricious private financial sector as a panacea for our pension crisis and, with the destruction of occupational schemes continuing apace, for all their flaws and greed they have a vital role to play. But how many workers on the minimum wage paying 40 per cent of their income on rent (I know a low-paid worker who pays 65 per cent of her income on rent) are paying into private pensions? Employers who cannot – or the many who simply will not – breach what they consider the effective ‘pay ceiling’ of the National Minimum Wage are certainly not going to provide even minimal pension schemes, and no minimum wage worker can realistically afford to do it themselves. In fact, even moderately paid workers cannot.
Low pay, sustained and encouraged by the Government’s open-door policy to lobbyists for retail, hospitality and tourism and many other sectors, is a massive contributor to the pension crisis and will eventually lead to not only homelessness, but hunger and possibly social breakdown itself, if even the state pension cannot be sustained and paid to all.
In the discussion of the pension crisis, it is necessary to join the dots. Circular half-baked discussions which deliberately avoid all the issues that sustain the crisis achieve nothing and let those who can act politically to address the issue off the hook. For as long as encouraging low pay and high rents are ideological goals of Government, the crisis will continue, will deepen, and will become economically and socially disruptive.
Meet the ”
Daniel McConnell
Daniel McConnell is an award-winning broadcast journalist and Political Editor of the Irish Examiner. A graduate of UCD and DCU, he regularly contributes to broadcast outlets, including RTÉ, Virgin Media, Newstalk, TodayFM and the BBC.
How did you get into journalism?
I got involved with the two college papers in UCD which was a fantastic entry into the world of print journalism. The thrill of seeing your name on the front page for the first time is one I remember still to this day.
I went on to become Editor of the University Observer where I worked with some of the very best journalists like Alan Torney (RTÉ), Richard Oakley (Business Post), Enda Curran (Dow Jones, Hong Kong), Steve Cummins (Sunday Times), Samantha Libreri (RTÉ), Niamh Lyons (RTÉ) and many, many more.
From there I went on to do the DCU journalism master’s where I won a placement with the Sunday Times. I have since worked with the Irish Times, Sunday Independent and am five years in my post as Political Editor of the Irish Examiner.
How do you think the profession is evolving?
It is certainly becoming a more challenging industry and the internet has upped the ante in terms of copy expectations and never-ending deadlines. Every day, my team and I mark ourselves against the best of the best in the other outlets so competition is fierce.
The use of social media platforms too has changed the game fundamentally. We use Twitter as a means of marking your opponents and watching politicians, but we use WhatsApp for internal communications within the team.
But, the highly restrictive libel laws
continue to make our job of holding the powerful to account very challenging, more so when social media platforms are rarely held to the same standard.
What are the challenges of working in print media?
Obviously, with declining circulations, the pressure on resources is immense.
We in the Irish Examiner have also gone behind a paywall in the past few months and while that has been successful, the transition from print to solely online will take a long time. Balancing those two strands of the business is challenging and encouraging people to pay for content online, which they have gotten for free for so long, is also not easy.
On the plus side, the print media still very much sets the agenda in this country and that is unlikely to change anytime soon.
Who do you admire most within the industry and why?
There are plenty of people who are more than happy to be lickspittles for the powerful in our industry and take joy in having their bellies tickled by government ministers.
I have always admired those who have been prepared to stand out from the crowd and be the pesky stone in the shoe of those on high.
In an international context, Christopher Hitchens has been a significant influence on me. Vincent Browne has, in my view, led the way on this during his career and I am a big admirer of him.
Eamon Dunphy is another who has been like a rottweiler to the powerful at times, even if I vehemently disagree with him on many issues.
The late Alan Ruddock was another who I greatly admired from my days with the Sunday Independent.
I have worked under a number of fantastic editors, and I would highlight three who have been fantastic to me. Aengus Fanning my former editor in the Sunday Independent who hired me and launched me as a young buck in the largest and most powerful paper in the country.
Tim Vaughan who hired me as his political editor in the Irish Examiner and my current editor Tom Fitzpatrick who has had my back from day one.
I also admire brilliant journalists like Jerome Reilly, Liam Collins, Ciaran Byrne, Maeve Sheehan, John Burns, and Miriam Donohoe with whom I have been lucky enough to soldier with at various stages.
It is a joy to work alongside my Irish Examiner colleagues Elaine Loughlin, Paul Hosford, and Aoife Moore every day as well as the great Mick Clifford who is simply one of Ireland’s greatest.
Closer to Leinster House, I have always admired John Lee’s courage and tenacity, Senan Molony’s wit and skill while Fiach Kelly, who sadly left our profession to work for government, was a superb hack and story getter.
What has been your most significant story or project to date?
I have been lucky to have worked on some very big and important stories in my career from revealing U2’s plan to leave Ireland for tax reasons in 2006 to my work with whistle-blowers in UCC, the Red Cross and the charity Goal.
But without question the story I am proudest of is the work I have done on the case of ‘Grace’ and ‘Sarah’ – two of 47 intellectually disabled young people who went through a foster home in Waterford where savage abuse took place.
How do you spend your time outside of work?
With three small kids, there is little to do outside of a busy work life that doesn’t involve them. While it is very busy, it is fantastic as they are at a great age, so it is a lot of football training, swimming lessons and the like.
When they are asleep, I enjoy sitting down with she who must be obeyed and relaxing over a glass of wine and some food.
I am an avid reader and music fan so I would love nothing more than to be going back to gigs again.
Also, nothing beats meeting up with friends when possible.
Political Platform
Ivana Bacik TD
An Oireachtas fixture since she was first elected to Seanad Éireann in 2007, Ivana Bacik was elected to the Dáil to serve as the Labour Party’s TD for Dublin Bay South following the July 2021 byelection. A graduate of Trinity College Dublin, she is now Labour Spokesperson for the Environment and Climate, Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth.
How did your political career begin?
I have always had an interest in politics. I became conscious of the fact that I was a feminist at a young age because my mother was and remains such a strong feminist role model to me. An event early on in my life that stands out as having politicised me took place when I was in primary school in west Cork. All the girls were made to stay inside and sew, while the boys played soccer outside. I didn’t like sewing and it struck me as being very unfair that keeping the boys and girls in my class in such arbitrary gender roles was the norm.
Then, in 1989, as President of the Students Union in Trinity College Dublin, I, and others, were taken to court by an organisation called the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) for providing information on abortion, which was forbidden at the time. SPUC had started to take legal cases against student’s unions and women’s counselling centres to stop us from providing phone numbers and addresses of abortion clinics in England. Irish women had been travelling in large numbers to England over many years since abortion was legalised in England in 1967, so student unions helped them by providing information. That protracted case paved the way for legal change in favour of women’s rights and that prompted a long campaign to repeal the Eighth Amendment – a campaign that finally succeeded with a 66.4 per cent vote in favour of Repeal in May 2018. I have been involved in campaigning for women’s rights and human rights since my university days, and as a Senator in the Oireachtas since 2007.
Some years later, I was elected to the Seanad to represent Dublin University in 2007, and was re-elected in 2011, 2016 and 2020. I was honoured and delighted to be elected to represent Dublin Bay South in the Dáil following the byelection this year.
What are your most notable achievements in the Oireachtas to date?
I am proud of my track record as a legislator. During my time in the Seanad, I worked with many colleagues
throughout my career as to progress legislation in many different areas. Indeed, as a Senator, I had more bills passed into law than any other Senator, on issues such as workers’ conditions, women’s health rights, and LGBT equality. In fact, I have sponsored more than 30 bills and acts since I was first elected in 2007.
My most memorable campaign in the Oireachtas was the campaign to repeal the Eighth Amendment. As a longstanding advocate for free, safe, legal, and accessible abortion services in Ireland, it was an honour to be able to work with Oireachtas colleagues from all parties and none on that campaign.
It is extraordinary to think that for 35 years, the Eighth Amendment created crisis affects people across the country, and that is no different in Dublin Bay South. However, renting is uniquely prevalent in the area. It is vitally important, therefore, that we see a radical change in local and national policy to ensure that this matter is resolved. I have brought forward legislation, alongside my colleague Senator Rebecca Moynihan, seeking to drastically redress the power imbalance which makes renting (particularly in the long-term) so unsustainable for people in Ireland.
What are your priorities going forward?
As the Labour Party Spokesperson for Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth and for Climate and in Ireland to non-national parents.
How can the Labour Party maximise its impact in the lifetime of the 33rd Dáil?
We in Labour have a strong team of TDs and Senators, led by Alan Kelly TD. Labour has always sought to advance equality issues, whether they pertain to women’s rights, workers’ rights, LGBT rights or general socioeconomic rights; that is no different in this session of the Dáil. Labour is committed to providing constructive opposition to make a real impact on people’s lives. That has enabled us to pass important legislation from opposition, such as Brendan Howlin’s Private Member’s Bill to criminalise image-based sexual abuse and cyberbullying towards the end of
Ivana Bacik TD, Labour Party
such an obstacle for women seeking basic reproductive healthcare. Although there are many remaining issues relating to access, harassment outside medical facilities and other matters, I will never forget that brilliant campaign which resulted in the repeal of the Eighth Amendment with such a resounding majority – 66.4 per cent – voting yes.
What is unique about representing Dublin Bay South?
I am thrilled to be representing Dublin Bay South, which has been my home for many years. Dublin Bay South is in many ways a microcosm of many of the national issues that the country faces today. For example, as many as 44 per cent of properties in the constituency are in the private rented sector. The housing Environment, I speak on behalf of the Labour Party in the Dáil on legislation in these areas. At a local level, I am on seeking to improve the provision of housing and care, the protection of the climate and the introduction of better community amenities in Dublin Bay South. In terms of current legislative projects, I am currently liaising with the Government to see provisions contained in the Renters Rights Bill 2021, the Reproductive Health Related Leave Bill 2021, and the Naturalisation of Minors Born in Ireland Bill 2021. These pieces of legislation would give greater protection to renters; would give an entitlement to paid leave for workers who have suffered an early miscarriage or who are undergoing reproductive healthcare treatments; and would provide a pathway to citizenship for children born last year (Coco’s Law). It is our intention to continue this work, and to use the mandate given to us by voters to make Ireland a better place for everyone living here.
What are your interests outside of the political sphere?
I am a keen swimmer and lifelong cyclist. In my spare time, I love to enjoy the valuable amenity of Dublin Bay. We are very lucky to have it and must take stronger action to conserve and develop its recreational use. I have brought forward legislation – the Dublin Bay Bill 2021 – which would establish a taskforce to develop the Bay and to protect local biodiversity. I would love to see the installation of baths along the Bay for the enjoyment of all who visit it.
