
S1 Ep5: Seanad Reform: the Seanad Bill 2020 and the Seanad Electoral (University Members) (Amendment) Bill 2020, with Dr Maurice Manning & Senator Malcolm Byrne
The Irish Legislation Podcast with Barry WardShow Notes
Senator Barry Ward talks Seanad reform in Episode 5. Barry is joined by two former TDs: Senator Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fáil – Wexford); and former Leader of Seanad Éireann and current Chancellor of the National University of Ireland, Dr Maurice Manning.
Malcolm Byrne was elected to the 32nd Dáil for the Wexford Constituency in a by-election in November 2019; he was subsequently elected to the 26th Seanad on the Cultural & Educational Panel and is the author, along with his fellow-Fianna Fáil Senators Pat Casey and Shane Cassells, of the Seanad Electoral (University Members) (Amendment) Bill 2020. This episode explores the role of the Seanad, the upper house of the Irish parliament, its potential and what reforms are needed to broaden its scope. Follow Senator Malcolm Byrne on Twitter @malcombyrne, on Instagram @malcolmbyrne, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/malcolmbyrne, or at www.fiannafail.ie/reps/senator-malcolm-byrne.
Maurice Manning was a member of the Oireachtas, the Irish parliament, for 21 years, serving as a Senator on the Cultural & Educational Panel in the 15th , 18th, 19th, 21st and 22nd Seanaid, and as TD for Dublin North-East in the 23rd and 24th Dála. Maurice Manning also authored the Manning Report on Seanad Reform in 2015, which recommended extensive “root and branch” reform of the upper house, and which formed the basis for the Seanad Bill 2020, sponsored by Senators Michael McDowell, Gerard Craughwell and Alice Mary Higgins. Find out about Dr Maurice Manning at www.nui.ie/about/chancellor.asp and www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/member/Maurice-Manning.S.1981-10-08.
You can read about the Seanad Electoral (University Members) (Amendment) Bill 2020 here: https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/bills/bill/2020/11/
You can read about the Seanad Bill 2020 here: https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/bills/bill/2020/47/
The Irish Legislation Podcast is presented by Senator Barry Ward. Follow Barry on Twitter twitter.com/barrymward; Instagram www.instagram.com/barrym_ward; Facebook at www.facebook.com/BarryWard.ie; or his web site: www.barryward.ie.
E-mail [email protected] with any comments or suggestions.
More from The Irish Legislation Podcast with Barry Ward
In this episode, Senator Barry Ward speaks to Senator Pauline O’Reilly, Vice Chair of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality, which has been established on foot of the recommendations of the Report of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality (read the report here). The discussion deals not just with what the Committee will do and how it will operate, but how it was established, who is on it, and the time frame within which it hopes to report to the Oireachtas.
In this episode, Senator Barry Ward talks to his Seanad colleague, Independent Senator Eileen Flynn, about her private member’s bill to remove the term “child pornography” from Irish legislation, and replace it with the more appropriate term “child sexual exploitation material”. Also in the podcast are Emer Taylor and Jessica Bray, who worked on the Bill with Senator Flynn. This is a first for Irish legislation because it alters the title of an existing act without repealing it; the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998 will become the Child Trafficking and Child Sexual Exploitation Material Act 1998. You can read the Bill here.
This week, Senator Barry Ward talks ticket touts with former Fine Gael TD Noel Rock, and barrister and law lecturer, James McDermott. The Sale of Tickets (Cultural, Entertainment, Recreational and Sporting Events) Act 2021 all stages and was signed into law last July and is now facing its first real life tests as live events return. Then TD for Dublin North-West, Noel Rock, along with Stephen Donnelly TD , originally sponsored the Prohibition of Above-cost Ticket Touting Bill 2017, which fell with the 32nd Dáil and was re-entered as the Sale of Tickets (Cultural, Entertainment, Recreational and Sporting Events) Bill 2021 by Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment, Leo Varadkar TD.
This week, Senator Barry Ward looks at a private members bill to ban so-called “conversion therapies”, which seek to change a person’s . Barry is joined by one of the sponsors of this cross-party legislation, Senator Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael – Cork South-Central), and practising psychotherapist Stella O’Malley, who is opposed to the bill.
In Episode 1 of Season 2, Senator Barry Ward talks gender quotas in business and the Irish Corporate Governance (Gender Balance) Bill 2021 with Fine Gael TD for Dublin Mid-West, Emer Higgins, and Orla O’Connor, Director of the National Women’s Council. This episode covers gender quotas, how they will work for boards of Irish companies, how to address gender imbalance and whether gender quotas are a fair approach.