Democracy Matters is an Irish campaign group set up to campaign for the retention of

Seanad Éireann Seanad Éireann (, ; "Senate of Ireland") is the upper house of the Oireachtas (the Irish legislature), which also comprises the President of Ireland and Dáil Éireann (the lower house). It is commonly called the Seanad or Senate and its memb ...

, the upper house of the Oireachtas or parliament. It was set up to oppose the 2013 bill to abolish the Seanad introduced by the Fine Gael–Labour government. After the defeat of the bill at referendum, Democracy Matters has remained in existence to argue for reform of the Seanad and the relationship between it and Dáil Éireann, the more powerful lower house of the Oireachtas.

Anti-abolition campaign

Fine Gael and Labour both included Seanad abolition in their manifestos for the 2011 general election, and it was in their ensuing program for government. In 2012,a group of political figures launched the ''Seanad Reform Group'' to oppose this, which drafted a document proposing Seanad reform. The group's founders were serving senators

Katherine Zappone Katherine Zappone (; born 25 November 1953) is an American-Irish independent politician who served as Minister for Children and Youth Affairs from May 2016 to June 2020. She was a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin South-West constituency from ...

and

Feargal Quinn Feargal Quinn (27 November 1936 – 24 April 2019) was an Irish businessman, politician and television personality. He founded the Superquinn supermarket chain and served as a Senator for the National University constituency from 1993 to 2016. ...

, former minister and senator Michael McDowell, former senator

Joe O'Toole Joseph John O'Toole (born 20 July 1947) is a former Irish independent politician, who was a member of Seanad Éireann from 1987 to 2011. He was born and brought up in Dingle, County Kerry, O'Toole was a teacher for ten years and then a school p ...

, and

Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtí Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christia ...

activist Noel Whelan. The Seanad Reform Group later renamed itself Democracy Matters. Zappone introduced a private member's bill to replace the restricted-franchise Seanad election with general-franchise elections. The group's campaign slogan was "Open it Don't Close it". It presented the abolition bill as a power-grab by a government which had already kept the Dáil on a tight leash. Other supporting the campaign group included historian

Diarmaid Ferriter Diarmaid Ferriter (born February 1972) is an Irish historian, broadcaster and university professor. He has written eleven books on the subject of Irish history, and co-authored another. Ferriter attended St. Benildus College in Kilmacud in Dub ...

, independent TD

Finian McGrath Finian McGrath (born 9 April 1953) is an Irish former Independent politician who served as Minister of State for Disability Issues from 2016 to 2020. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 2002 to 2020. Early and personal life Born in Tuam, C ...

, former minister and senator

Mary O'Rourke Mary O'Rourke (; born 31 May 1937) is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician who served as Leader of the Seanad and Leader of Fianna Fáil in the Seanad from 2002 to 2007, Deputy leader of Fianna Fáil from 1994 to 2002, Minister for Public ...

, and former minister

Eamon Ryan Eamon Michael Ryan (born 28 July 1963) is an Irish Green Party politician who has served as Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications and Minister for Transport since June 2020 and Leader of the Green Party since May 2011. He ha ...

. On 20 September 2013 the group launched a poster campaign for a No-vote in the referendum. Labour backbenchers were free to oppose the party in the referendum campaign, and senator

Ivana Bacik Ivana Catherine Bacik (born 25 May 1968) is an Irish Labour Party politician who has been Leader of the Labour Party since 24 March 2022 and a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin Bay South constituency since winning a by-election on 9 July 2 ...

and TDs

Joanna Tuffy Joanna Tuffy (born 9 March 1965) is an Irish Labour Party politician who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin Mid-West constituency 2007 to 2016. She was a Senator for the Administrative Panel from 2002 to 2007. Early life Born in ...

and Michael McCarthy joined Democracy Matters canvassing.

Post-referendum

The referendum held on 4 October 2013 rejected the abolition bill by 51.73% to 48.27% on a turnout of 39.17%. Democracy Matters marked the 100th day after the referendum on 13 January 2014 with a press conference, at which it criticised the government's subsequent inaction on Seanad reform, and presented further plans of its own to that end. The group still issues statements regularly on its Facebook page.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Democracy Matters Organizations established in 2012 Political advocacy groups in the Republic of Ireland Seanad Éireann 2012 establishments in Ireland