Bhí comhrá agam le Cian Mac Cárthaigh ó Raidió na Life

With Marie McDonald on ICR (Inishowen Community Radio)

Interview on Connemara Community Radio

Here's the highlights from last night's interview (Tuesday 12th April) with Pat Walsh on Connemara Community Radio. Every little helps!

Now Is The Time

At 5pm yesterday:

• 15,246 votes have been cast.
• 14,000 votes returned undelivered
• 600 votes reissued to new addresses.
• There are still 67,888 votes to be cast.

If you haven’t cast your vote, now is the time.

If you haven’t received your vote now is the time to ring the NUI & query it on 353 (1) 439 2424

The 25^th of April, Easter Monday, is a bank holiday giving people fewer working days to get their vote to count. 

The last day for sending out change of address votes will be around Monday the 18^th April, in less than 10 days time.

The final day for receiving votes is midday on the 27^th April.

If you haven’t used your vote yet, now is the time.

Today with Pat Kenny

Being on Today with Pat Kenny was a great way to get my message out there of one man one vote in a Republic and stopping squandering of taxpayers money by using social media to canvass the electorate.

Here are the highlights from last Thursday's show.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery

I'm delighted to see that in the two weeks since my campaign got off the ground, other candidates seem to have come on board with my ideas. Peter Mooney et al have mooted an anaemic rehash of my proposal for Seanad reform in their letter in yesterday's Irish Times.

Universal suffrage, with each citizen having one and only one vote for Seanad Éireann, is a no-brainer in a democracy but their suggestion about a "gender-balanced" Seanad is patronising (or should that be matronising?) nonsense. The best person for the job, in the judgement of the voters and regardless of gender, should be elected. The representation of Irish emigrants in Seanad Éireann is an excellent idea and it was just as good when I first publicly suggested it two weeks ago. It's nice to know that Peter and the boys were  listening!

Peter, Robin and Seamus don't tell us how they plan to elect Senators nationally when the current political oligarchy is broken up, while their prohibition on candidates standing for both houses of the Oireachtas needs to be much more specific. The current panel system can be broadly retained, as long as the franchise is widened; this has the added advantage of ensuring that the pre-eminence of Dáil Éireann is not challenged. The double or triple votes of some electors needs to go, e.g. a graduate of two universities who is also a TD. A candidate needs to be restricted to standing for one house of the Oireachtas in each election cycle. A vague commitment to a "set number of years" means little; we need to ban this years failed Dáil candidates from landing a "consolation prize". They have been rejected by the people and thus have no place in this Oireachtas. 

The biggest challenge is not "gender-balancing" or "strengthened powers" but breaking the stranglehold of the political class on an entire house of our national parliament. Until Peter and his colleagues tell us how exactly they plan to do this, the rest of their plan is moot.

Mick condemns the senseless squandering of taxpayers' money

I'm disgusted that 21 of the candidates for the NUI Constituency in the Seanad have squandered nearly €1,000,000 of taxpayers' money to send leaflets that almost no-one reads. The figures break down like this:

• Each flyer (Litir um Thoghchan) costs the taxpayer 48c to send.
• There is a discount, I presume because it is bulk posting, on standard postage of 55c. 
• There are 97,734 voters on the NUI register.
• Each Candidate who has sent out electoral material to the register of voters has cost the taxpayer €46,912.32.
• 21 out of 27 candidates in the NUI constiuency have done this, costing the taxpayer a total of €985,158.72

I chose not to send out a postal flyer as I don’t believe that it is an effective way to canvass people in the modern age. I am canvassing through social and traditional media. People can find out what I stand for by looking up www.facebook.com/votelangan2011

Mail shots are a colossal waste of resources for the taxpayer and of my own funds as well, since the candidate pays for the printing. My own experience over the years, is that this type of election material ends up directly in the recycling bin. I believe that one should campaign as one means to continue, aware that there are public resources available to help people but they should not be wasted in these difficult times. There is a need for new thinking now; we need to be able to cut our cloth according to our measure.

Mick Langan is a candidate for Seanad Éireann in 2011 on the National University of Ireland panel.