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Why I’ll be Voting for Dr. Mark Garavan in NUI Seanad Elections
Read more about: Irish Election, Seanad
Elections are moments of truth- when we get as close as we can to really hearing what other people are thinking, albeit as a collective.
And one of the more interesting things I’ve heard from this election was the general feeling (except from some Green party members) that having the Green Party in government could only be a good thing. A Fianna Fail supporter, for example, said to me that they hadn’t voted for the Greens, but they thought it would be good to have their views reflected in Government.
There is, as Eric Morcombe used to say, no answer to that.
However, there is another election coming up- within a few weeks, in fact. The Senead Elections are underway. Depending on which panel they’re standing for, the candidates are pressing the flesh of county councillors across the land or union officials or horse breeders etc.
One of the panels, completely unreasonably I admit, is solely for graduates of the colleges of the National University of Ireland. And one of the candidates for that panel this year is Rory Bremner look-alike and tireless articulator for the Shell to Sea campaign Dr. Mark Garavan of NUI Galway.
He’ll be getting my number one this time. I’d like to urge you, if you are an NUI graduate, to do the same. And, because I don’t think you’ll necessarily be following my every urging blindly I thought I’d set out some of the reasons why.
Firstly, Shell to Sea have put forward the arguments against the Corrib Gas project in a rational fashion. This could never be easy, as anyone involved in such an emotional situation can imagine. But they’ve remained reasoned and cogent, even in the face of overwhelming disinterest (pre-jailings) followed by provocation (post-jailling) and then finally retreat by Shell. I number Dr. Garavan high amongst the figures who ensured that this happened.
Secondly, better than merely being a one issue candidate for the Seanad, the good Doctor is actually applying the extreme experiences of the Corrib Gas project participants to our wider society. The arguments he is making, and the position he is seeking to represent boil down to one belief.
People matter.
From this simple statement, he has developed his views on Health, our Democracy, the Environment and so on. Those links lead to his blog, where he is setting out his positions.
He earns his number one from me for two reasons. For the work he’s done to date in trying (unpaid, of course) to represent the views of people who, for a long time, had nobody to speak for them. And for the work he could do in the future in applying that ability to be a voice for the voiceless to the national stage.
If FF supporters can recognise the value of the Green’s views in cabinet, I don’t think that you would have to share Shell to Sea’s aims to acknowledge the value of their contribution. The Seanad University Panels have a proud history of electing maverick voices just when we need to hear from them most. I hope you, the NUI graduate voter reading this, will vote Number one for Mark Garavan and carry on that tradition.
Voting Note: Don’t forget to ask your parents if your voting card has arrived to their house. It’s estimated that approximately 25% of the NUI Seanad Panel are dead. The rest have the wrong address. You’ve to contact your own college Admin to update them or ask for a card, if you haven’t got one.
Mind if I ask for your next highest available preference?
Good choice and well said. I don’t have a vote but if I did Garavan would get it.
I am an activist in the Shell to Sea campaign and have no intention of voting Garavan.
His manifesto is bland to the point of being nonsensical. There is 0 mention of his role in the Shell to Sea campaign, clearly because of fear that it might put off the more conservative voters. But if he isn’t honest enough to include his role in one of the most significant national campaigns in recent years then I’d start to get worried.
Shell won’t be sent to sea, or anywhere else for that matter, by an elitist group of voters (myself included) choosing a candidate for an ineffective upper house of parliament. There are far more critical issues for that campaign to deal with.
Furthermore I am very wary indeed of candidates who come up with blasé lines such as the “need to challenge orthodoxies of both left and right.” Of course we need to challenege orthodoxies. But another centrist, soft Senator is hardly going to forge a New Republic.
As a first time elector I am wholly unimpressed with the entire procedure, even given that I was aware of the whole nonsense of having a vote in the first place. I still haven’t decided whether I’ll spoil my vote or not; if progressive candidates promise and set out a plan to use their position to replace Article 18 of Bunreacht na hÉireann with an entirely new and democratic Seanad - or none at all - maybe I’ll consider them. If not, I don’t see why I should play a role in maintaining this farcical endeavour.
I will not vote for someone that has no problem with the democratic deficit that is the seanad will not get my vote. Going on about UL etc is bull until everyone in the country has a vote it is a disgrace. I will certainly not vote for him.
Simon, if you don’t take the time to fix what is right in front of you there is no chance of someone attempting to address the complicated stuff.
Brief response.
I’m not looking for a new republic, simply a functioning one. But that’s the magic of the PR system. Just give your second choice the number two, and if your first choice performs poorly, your vote still counts. Hogan is a party candidate on what, if it is to meet its purpose, should be a non-party panel. A spoiled vote is a vote for whatever everyone else wanted. A bit of a shame, when the electorate is so small.
Lower-case simon: There is a case for the upper house, with its limited oversight powers, to supply different views. If you had a full Dail-style election, you would simply get the same thing twice. If the value of different voices to reflect a pluralistic society is accepted, then the argument simply becomes over which under represented groups should form the panels. A reasonable argument, but hardly a reason not to vote.
Different views that come from a small sub-set of the people why are the views of trinity graduates in more need of a voice of the views of the unemployed. And I seriously beg to differ that not wanting to get rid of the democratic deficit is a reason not to vote for someone. It is the bloody biggest reason not to vote for someone. Democracy is by the people not some of the people. Anyone who does not believe that very basic of principles will not get my vote.
Are we the only EU country to still not give citizens equal voting rights?
As Mr Garavan has seen fit to associate himself with the muppets and wasters from Shell to Sea I do hope that the seanad electorate give Mr Garavan the same answer as the electorate in Mayo gave Mr. Cowley.
Getting confusing with two Dermots and two Simons here with opposite viewpoints…even I don’t know which one I am anymore…
I was simon first here