Maman Poulet | Clucking away crookedly through media, politics and life

The week the Seanad earned it’s keep

July 9th, 2010 · Irish Politics, LGBT, Same Sex Partnerships

For years this week will be remembered not only by lesbians and gay men and their allies but also by Senators past, present and future.  It is popular to knock the upper house, it’s even popular to call for it to be scrapped. However for those of us who watch it on a regular basis it’s clear to see that many members are expert in issues and far more expert on these issues  than their counterparts in the lower house. They also have more time to think and to talk.  And for the past few days they have talked about love, about lesbians and gay men, about children, and living and let living.

It was far more powerful and meaningful than the Dáil debate and that was after a good quality debate at all stages in the lower house. The presence of opponents to the Civil Partnership Bill and the delaying tactics they used may have helped in terms of increasing the quality of the debate but even before it got testy there were some very moving second stage debates with 28 speakers (far more that the Dáil).

According to the authorities in the Oireachtas more people watched the Seanad online this week than ever before. It was an education for many and some may still not understand why a second house is needed and or what was actually taking place. But largely the debates were accessible and the members talked about things in human terms. And that maybe is what the role of the Seanad should be in the future – people elected by a wider electorate together with representatives of nominated bodies talking about the human and real face of legislation and probing and searching for answers and solutions. It should not be a mini-Dáil, a training ground for political pups or a retirement ground for the older mutts.

There is a lot written about Seanad Reform and many reports have been compiled. But it will be a long time before a debate such as the Civil Partnership Bill will take place again and the Seanad may not have that long to wait if Enda Kenny get’s his way and scraps it.  Senators were also engaged online during the debate and I saw comments from a few that they felt pressure from being watched by people who were instantly reviewing online.  This should always be the case. And if there is a wider electorate and more ownership of the upper house then the quality of the debate can only continue to improve.

As someone who regularly watches Seanad debates online this was a fine day and I’m sure we’ll be hearing about it for a long time. (Donie Cassidy must be thrilled!)  I’m happy with the results of the debate and the forthcoming legislation (and retain some reservations on the effects on low income and unwaged people), but I feel it important to mention the contributions of  Senators like Fiona O’Malley, (great chairing!) Lisa MacDonald, Geraldine Feeney, Jerry Buttimer and Ivana Bacik.   Three cheers also to David Norris for being David, witty, sharp and nearly outrageous but also speaking very movingly.  And a mention for Jim Walsh for his good wishes to lesbians and gay men in his speech at the end of the bill – this was very big of him given his fierce opposition to the bill and it won’t have been easy.

I got through all of that without mentioning Ronan Mullen eh?  The next Seanad election on the NUI panel will be interesting. Maybe a florist can send him some flowers 🙂  Wouldn’t have been so good without him either but not in the way he would appreciate.

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Seanad debate on Civil Partnership Bill

July 6th, 2010 · Uncategorized

The Seanad will begin a two day debate of the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Bill 2009 (note the new name!) tomorrow. (Schedule here.)

The 2nd stage will take place at some stage tomorrow after 12.30pm until 5pm and from 7.15pm onwards. This will be where Senators make general comments on the bill as to it’s general philosophy and how they feel about it so expect contributions from David Norris, the FF 3 (O’Murchu, Jim Walsh and John Hanafin) and others.

The Committee, Report and Final Stages where the bill is debated and possibly amended will take place on Thursday from 10.30 am. (Live stream can be accessed here by selecting one of the options for the Seanad)

You can see the various amendments that have been made and keep an eye to the page for amendments which will be proposed.

As ever a liveblog will take place and we will be watching online and possibly even inside the house. Tweets marked #cpbill will be included in the liveblog and other photo’s, blog posts and even video will be included. It’s history in the making, it may be slightly testy atmosphere, there may even be more ‘vicious protesters’ and it’s going to take two days to do – lots of people have been joining us on the liveblog over the other debates so we hope you’ll join in at some stage!.
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Ronan Mullen is going to Rome

July 5th, 2010 · Irish Politics

Not permanently or anything but he has been invited to visit the Italian Senate in the autumn together with Paul Bradford and Billy Timmins (FG TD’s) and a government minister (as yet unnamed).

The invitation was delivered by members of the Italian community living in Ireland during a recent tour of Leinster House. The invitation has been issued by Senatore Micheloni who is one of Italy’s expat senators – he lives in Switzerland but was elected to represent Italian people living abroad in the Italian parliament.

Back to the invite – here is the moment that Ronan found out his good news. He is of course no stranger to Rome.

According to Irlandiani reports Senator Mullen gives a great Leinster House tour ending of course in the visitors bar. Translation of the reports by readers who are better versed in Italian are of course welcome.

Wonder will the Senator be jumping any queues?

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Thou shalt not take pictures in the Dáil Bar

July 5th, 2010 · Irish Media, Irish Politics

No contact received yet from the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission asking me to take down the picture tweeted by Minister Ciaran Cuffe in the Dáil bar last Thursday night which I blogged shortly afterwards. The picture showed politicians and members of the lesbian and gay community celebrating the passage of the Civil Partnership Bill.

It seems that the Superintendent of the Oireachtas discovered the picture and requested that the Minister take it down. The rule of no photography allowed inside the Dáil or the bar was broken (it’s not just the bar that photography is banned – other areas are camera free). It’s a stupid rule. It’s a public place albeit with restricted access, subsidised by tax payers and as Cuffe says many people would like a souvenir of their visit.

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RTE’s coverage of Civil Partnership issues 2004-2010

July 4th, 2010 · Irish Media, Irish Politics, LGBT, Same Sex Partnerships

Published today is a document detailing the coverage RTE have given to the situation surrounding civil partnership legislation and matters pertaining to the legal recognition of same sex relationships.

Prepared by Karl Hayden I’ll leave it to him to explain why he put a great amount of effort into producing this list.

One of the reasons I chose to do this was because each time (3 times) I engaged with the protesters outside the Dáil in recent months. One of the claims they made was the lack of media coverage on the issue and their claim that the “Political Establishment” and “Liberal Media Bias” in particular RTÉ, had conspired to deny Irish people of information about Civil Partnership and that it was being done behind the people’s backs. They also claimed that the “Homosexual Liberal Agenda” got more coverage than anyone who opposed it. No doubt they will continue trying to say the Irish people have been denied information, despite the evidence.

Most of the links in the document work – so you can go back and listen to debates on reports on the issue over the years. And the next time someone says that gays and lesbians got more coverage than others or controlled the agenda one can produce this list showing lots of opponents (many with no mandate or knowledge on the subject) getting airtime. It’s a document that many students in media, sociology and history will refer to in the analysis of civil partnership and indeed the book that someone (no not me) will probably write about the campaign at some stage.

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