Fianna Fáil Seanad Leader Catherine Ardagh has criticised the Taoiseach’s ongoing delay in making his appointments to Seanad Éireann. The Seanad cannot sit until he names his eleven nominees.

Senator Ardagh commented, “It is almost a month since the Seanad elections took place and it is three weeks since Enda Kenny was elected Taoiseach and yet he still has not appointed the eleven nominees required to let the Seanad commence its work.

“Throughout this period, all of the newly elected Senators have been paid a wage and provided with facilities, but haven’t sat for a single hour. It is completely untenable and it needs to be addressed without further delay.

“The Taoiseach’s lack of regard for the Seanad is well established, but when he tried to abolish it he got his answer from the Irish people. Legislation cannot be enacted without the Seanad doing its job and the fact is that if emergency legislation were required this week for any reason, the Oireachtas would not be in a position to pass it.

“The General Election result and the numbers it produced require the Taoiseach and the Government to show proper respect to the parliament and work with it in a positive and constructive way. The Seanad is an integral part of our parliament and the Taoiseach’s ongoing failure to make his appointments and let it start doing its work is not encouraging.

“We cannot have another week pass without these appointments being made”.

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Fianna Fáil Leader Micheál Martin TD has announced that he has appointed Senator Catherine Ardagh as the Fianna Fáil Group Leader in the Seanad.

Deputy Martin said, “I’m delighted to announce Senator Catherine Ardagh as the new Fianna Fáil Seanad Leader. We have a very talented Seanad team which will play an important role in the coming years. I know that Catherine will be an energetic and very effective leader of that team.

“Having served on Dublin City Council, Catherine is acutely aware of the issues affecting communities across Dublin. She is well placed to reflect the issues which are impacting on people in the capital such as a lack of housing, high levels of homelessness and exorbitant childcare costs. I’ve no doubt that Catherine will use her new role to highlight these issues and drive forward Fianna Fáil’s vision of a fairer Ireland in the upper house" concluded Deputy Martin.

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