Cork City Socialist Party councillor Mick Barry this morning called
for a YES vote in the Seanad referendum scheduled for October 4.
The Socialist Party launched a postering blitz this weekend which
highlights the undemocratic and elitist nature of the Seanad.
One poster reads “Seanad Electorate: Rochestown 340 Ballyvolane 77
Make Your First Vote on the Seanad Your Last Vote Yes”.
The other Socialist Party posters read “In Seanad and the Economy: End
the Rule of the 1% Vote Yes” and “Neither Rubberstamp Seanad Nor Dail
Austerity Vote Yes”.
The first poster refers to the fact that 340 Rochestown residents
voted in the election for the 6 Seanad university seats in the 2011
Seanad election whereas only 77 Ballyvolane residents voted in the
same ballot.
Cllr Barry said: “The fact that an area like Rochestown had four to
five times as many Seanad voters two years ago as a working class area
such as Ballyvolane shows that the Seanad is elitist and undemocratic
with a massive class bias.”
The second poster refers to the fact that only 1% of the population
voted in the Seanad election of 2011 and that the richest 1% of the
population hold 20% of the country’s wealth.
Cllr Barry said this morning: “The rubberstamp Seanad and the
austerity Dail are two sides of the one coin. Our hope is that the
people vote to abolish the Seanad on October 4 and then step up the
fight against Government austerity as the Budget axe comes down. A
vote to end the house which has rubberstamped five years of austerity
policies should open the door to real resistance to the austerity
endorsed by Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and Labour in the Dail.”