Seanad Eireann Statements to mark the 90th Anniversary of Seanad ireann Tuesday 11 December 2012 Statement by Senator Jillian

van Turnhout

Thank you Cathaoirleach I feel honoured to be speaking on behalf of our Independent Group. In preparing for today I have spent the past week reflecting and reading back through the history of the Seanad, and in particular to its earlier days. My colleagues will know that I have a keen interest in family history and it is through my research that I came across the necklace that I wear today that was given by my Grandfather to his sister on her wedding day in the 1920s. I wonder on that day, in County Clare, what where their thoughts, on the early days of the Seanad. I do know that my family history had some amazing strong women and so as I wear my Great Aunts necklace I wonder did the first women of the Seanad give her inspiration. The women nominated to the 1922-1937 Free State Seanad were highly gifted and made significant contributions to political, economic and cultural spheres of Ireland. Notably these women were committed to gender equality during a period in which legislative changes ensured womens rights were further weakened. Jenny Wyse Power had been active in the Ladies Land League and in local government, and also ran various businesses. Ellen Odette Cuffe, Countess of Desart, was a London-based Jewish woman, and had founded a woollen mill, a theatre and hospital in Kilkenny. She was also a keen supporter of the Irish language. Alice Stepford-Green was a noted historian. Eileen Costello was a London-based teacher who had moved to Galway, and had a keen interest in Irish folklore. Elected in 1928, Kathleen Clarke was a well-known nationalist andshe opposed the wording of Bunreacht na hEireann as she believed it regarded women in a lower position than had been in the Proclamation of 1916. Kathleen Browne, a member of Cumann na nGaedheal, joined the Seanad at a byelection in 1929. Despite their political differences, these women often worked together to promote womens issues. The Civil Service Regulation (Amendment) Bill of 1925, which sought to confine state examinations for senior civil service posts to men, was strongly opposed by Senators Wyse-Power and Costello. Additionally, Senator Wyse Power, who had worked in the republican courts set up during the War of Independence, was staunch in her opposition to the 1927 Juries Act, which barred women from jury service in the new state. Many of the women
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senators supported the Illegitimate Children (Affiliation Orders) Bill of 1929, which was introduced to improve the status of unmarried mothers by providing the mother with the right to financial maintenance from the childs father. Senator Clarke opposed a ban of contraceptives in 1934, arguing it would drive the issue of birth control underground. Radically for the time, Senator Clarke also called for solidarity for the trade union movement on the issue of equal pay in 1935. A number of women elected over the years to the post-1937 Senate such as Mary Robinson and Gemma Hussey began their political activities campaigning for womens issues. Once elected, they worked hard to ensure womens rights were placed on the houses agenda. The then Senator Robinson, despite being subject to personal hate mail and high levels of suspicion from a number of colleagues, introduced a bill in 1973 to make contraceptives legal in the Republic. Meanwhile, Senator Hussey attempted to have legislation of rape introduced, sponsoring the Sexual Offences Bill, 1980, which lapsed at First Stage. Former Judge of the Supreme Court, Catherine McGuinness, who was first elected to the Seanad in 1979, argued for the rights of the individual throughout her legislative and judicial careers. These women, and others, made improving the lives of ordinary women central to their work as senators, and are just three examples of the high levels of female talent which have emerged from the upper house. I was interested to note that no Taoiseach between 1937 and 2007 nominated more than four women. This was broken in 2011, when Taoiseach Enda Kenny TD included seven women among his eleven nominees. This ensured the new Seanad was 30 per cent female, a record high in womens political representation in the Houses of the Oireachtas. As you examine the transcripts and history of this house it is clear that women senators have made contributions to their upper house, indeed to Houses of the Oireachtas, well beyond their paltry numbers. This 90th Anniversary has given me an opportunity to reflect on our history and to draw inspiration. I feel extremely privileged to be a member of Seanad ireann. As I reflect today and especially look at my colleagues in our Independent Group and indeed admire the work that they have done both outside and inside this house. I think we have an opportunity for each of us reflect and decide what will be the legacy for our work? Will we be willing to stand up and use our voices, our role and our powers to make a positive difference to the lives of the people of Ireland? Note: I would like to record my thanks to Claire McGing, NUI Maynooth and Fiona Buckley UCC for their input and assistance in preparing this statement.
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