I am one of the privileged one that get to vote in the Seanad elections and do intend to exercise that franchise.

My problem is that most of the election literature I have received from prospective candidates are promoting issues which are the prerogative of government, “fixing the national debt” “better schools” “the health service” “creating jobs” etc. Surely the role of the Seaned is monitor the legislation being promoted by Government, specifically as it relates to our constitution and using their considered expertise to propose or recommend changes.

If I am to believe the bumpf being promoted by most of the candidates, although they all start off with the mantra “Seaned Reform”  they all obviously see the Seaned as a launching pad for a political career and need to get real, we already have an elected parliament guys!!

If the Seaned continues to be what it has been in the past, a “Kindergarten”  for prospective TDs, or a retirement home for the failed ones, making irrelevant comments on things which are really none of their business, then it should be abolished as soon as possible.

The alternative is to give it a real job to do. There is more than enough work to be done on Constitutional issues to keep the upper house busy, specifically working on legislative reform to bring the constitution into the 21^st Century and recommend constitutional changes if necessary.

The task of taking all pre 1921 Legislation, Acts and Laws, bringing them up to date and disposing of some of the archaic legacies left over from Colonial times,  would probably keep the Seaned busy for years.  

Perhaps a Campaign for a REAL Seaned would be worthwhile

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Peter Brennan, President of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce and managing Director of EPS Consulting writes…

This was Eamon De Valera’s promise when he was Taoiseach nearly 70 years ago.

In the meantime the Shannon has continued to flood, with last year’s incidents a salutary reminder of the power of the river.

The Dublin local authorities want to bring water from the Shannon to meet a projected and significant shortfall in water capacity in the Midlands and the Greater Dublin Region from 2016.

The Shannon Protection Alliance is opposed to the plan. But many of their arguments are not based on evidence. For example, they claim ‘the plan contravenes the EU Water Framework Directive because of lack of consultation and failure to address adverse effects.’ The SPA should read the Strategic Environmental Assessment published in November 2008 which clearly deals with the concerns expressed by local land community groups. There has been significant consultation on this project.

The SPA also claims it has the support of 1 million in opposing the scheme. That is a bit over the top. Has anyone asked the farmers, householders and businesses who are flooded every year if the proposed scheme is a good idea?

‘The plan will spell the end of all planning and development in the towns and villages situated on the Shannon’ is another widely exaggerated claim based on not a scintilla of evidence.

How about the following: ‘…the plan will bring about the swift, total and irreversible demise of tourism, leisure activities, agriculture, and the destruction of the fragile ecology’. More hyperbole.

How about a few facts for a change:

1. Some 1,000 mm of rain falls on the Shannon catchment area every year; a daily average of 2.7mm. Drawing 300 million litres a day (which is the proposal) is the equivalent of 0.02 mm/day: basically equivalent to a normal shower of rain. Source: Met Eireann.
2. The scheme is designed to provide water supplies to the counties of the Midlands, Kildare and Dublin. So it is a scheme to help the East Region of Ireland.
3. The scheme will have to be approved by An Bord Pleanála. This will require a detailed Environmental Impact Assessment to be prepared and will allow all parties ample time to comment and appeal the decision.
4. To take account of seasonal flooding the option of diverting water into bogs at Rochfordbridge/Portarlington is being considered.
5. Ireland’s most pre-eminent climate scientists are forecasting that last year’s flooding will become more commonplace and that there will be less rain fall in the east of the country.

The water that falls onto Ireland does not belong to anyone. It is a national natural resource. Therefore it makes sense in order to sustain jobs and to meet demand from households that that resource flows to where it is most needed in the country.

The SPA needs reassurances. The planning process should address their concerns.

The Midlands and the Greater Dublin Region need water. The planning process will determine how best this can be done in a sustainable manner.

And in words of Phil Fitzpatrick’s song…..where the Shannon waters flow.

I listened recently to a Senior manager from the Public Sector explain his frustration at the complete lack of forward movement in the Oxymoron called “The Public Service “ but, while  there are many like him in our Administration, none of them are going to radically change it, turkeys don’t vote for Christmas. Talk is cheap and marking time to pension, instead of demanding the recognised changes or else, is about as useful as a fork in a soup bowl.

How can we change over Thirty years of the inexorable movement to point where the administrators are getting paid more than the wealth generators, have consolidated their position and have the power to continue to make laws and regulations, preventing this from reverting to the way things should be i.e. the wealth generators employ the administrators to administer the wealth.

Excuse the use of tired old clichés “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing” I’m not saying that our current situation is as a result of evil, but you get my drift. (Although there are probably a few who would fit the bill)

What to do?

The business community are not blameless in this, abdicating our responsibilities for anything other than making money to the administrators.  If we want change, it’s time to step up to the plate , walk away from “Self” and focus some of our energy on changing those things that will return us to equilibrium for the benefit of the wider community and more importantly, the next generations.

My youngest daughter  Lucy (11), after listening to another of my rants last week, asked me a very interesting question, “Daddy, if you had the power to change everything, what would you do?”

I have to admit to an embarrassing silence and I am still struggling with it because, “where do we start?”

I suppose we need to decide……
What we want to place to look like
What needs to be done to make it happen
Get involved and make it so
Or walk quietly over Mirza’s bridge into oblivion, muttering into our pints.

Find out about Mirza here

The reference to Oxymoron above is incorrect as the statement is more closely aligned to a Paradox, either way, Public Servants are probably not.

Oxymoron

An oxymoron is a figure of speech that combines two normally contradictory terms. Oxymoron  is a loanword from Greek oxy  (“sharp” or “pointed”) and moros  (“dull”). Thus the word oxymoron  is itself an oxymoron.

Paradox

A paradox is a true statement or group of statements that leads to a contradiction or a situation which defies intuition

A little boy goes to his dad and asks, ‘What is Politics?’
Dad says, ‘Well son, let me try to explain it this way:
I am the head of the family, so call me The Prime Minister.
Your mother is the administrator of the money, so we call her the Government.
We are here to take care of your needs, so we will call you the People. 
The nanny, we will consider her the Working Class.
And your baby brother, we will call him the Future.
Now think about that and see if it makes sense.’
So the little boy goes off to bed thinking about what Dad has said.
Later that night, he hears his baby brother crying, so he gets up to check on him.
He finds that the baby has severely soiled his nappy.
So the little boy goes to his parent’s room and finds his mother asleep. 
Not wanting to wake her, he goes to the nanny’s room.
Finding the door locked, he peeks in the keyhole and sees his father in bed with the nanny.
He gives up and goes back to bed.
The next morning, the little boy says to his father, ‘Dad, I think I understand the concept of politics now.’
The father says, ‘Good, son, tell me in your own words what you think politics is all about.’
The little boy replies, ‘The prime Minister is screwing the Working Class while the Government is sound asleep. The People are being ignored and the Future is in deep shit.’