A leading independent equality campaigner in the running for a Senate seat has vowed to reinvigorate Ireland’s democracy if elected.
Robin Hanan, who is contesting under the Trinity College Seanad Panel, also promised to work to protect jobs, as well as promote social justice.
“We need thorough reform of our institutions and political culture to rebuild faith in democracy,” he said. “This means rooting out corruption and clientalism, strengthening controls on abuses and making the Dáil, Seanad and civil service more open, representative and accountable.”
His proposed reforms also include “socially and environmentally progressive” economic policies, such as training schemes for Ireland’s growing numbers of unemployed, and planning for the transition “self-sufficiency” in renewable energy.
Hanan, a former civil servant, said the ongoing attacks on the public service and education, are not only damaging but also divisive.
“Reforms must strengthen universal access to public services like health, education and transport,” he said. “They must also ensure improved customer service and information management, informed, integrated planning and stronger regulation. Education cuts are narrowing opportunities for some of our most vulnerable children.”
He added the Irish public must understand that “economics, politics and science are essential to democracy, and must be led by an imaginative and adequately funded third level sector.”
He promised to work on all of these issues to help make the society more “just and accountable”.
The former co-ordinator of the European Anti-Poverty Network (EAPN) Ireland – who also chaired its main Europe-wide policy and advocacy group – said he would, if elected to the Senate, ensure to work with others to promote policies to reduce inequality between rich and poor and between native and minority groups in Irish society.
“If we are to re-emerge as a vibrant part of the globalised society, we need to value and support diversity and equality and fight racism,” he said.
On the global stage, Hanan said he would like to see Ireland do more. The one-time Comhlámh co-ordinator promised to work for and support policies that would “ensure that Ireland takes its global responsibilities seriously in areas like quality aid, trade, debt and sustainable development.”
Hanan’s candidature is being supported by a number of past Trinity College students, including Prof Louise Richardson, principal of St Andrews University in Scotland; Prof Peter Wyse Jackson of Missouri Botanical Garden; and Prof Hugh Frazer of NUI Maynooth, former director of the Combat Poverty Agency and Northern Ireland Voluntary Trust.
