Senators Tom Clonan and Lynn Ruane, both independent of any political party, are Trinity’s sole representatives in Seanad Éireann, after former Senator David Norris’ resignation from the post after 36 years in January 2024.
Government is yet to trigger a bye-election to fill Norris’ now vacant seat, inaction that leaves the Trinity panel with one less representative than is legally necessary, and thus opens government to legal challenges and threats.
Both senators have addressed this controversy, and in separate interviews with Trinity News, they criticised Government for its failure to uphold constitutionally mandated standards, however Senator Clonan maintained that “it’s not within the gift of an individual Trinity senator to move the write – so neither myself nor Senator Ruane can make that call.”
He went on to say that government is stalling on this issue “because we’re entering into an election cycle”, and Ruane echoed this sentiment by saying that “time is ticking on now so it would be very hard to have a bye-election if we’re about to go into the general election”.
Ruane was first elected to the Seanad in 2016 after having spent the previous year as President of Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union, and retained her seat in the 2020 Seanad election. She’s most known for progressive drug policy and prison reform.
She confirmed to Trinity News that she plans on running for the Trinity panel in the Seanad in the next election, although she had some hesitations about this decision at first.
“I have spent a lot of time thinking about it and making sure it’s the right thing. I do believe that you should only remain in places where you feel like you’re having an impact”, she shared.
“I do feel that there is stuff still outstanding”, she said particularly in relation to drug and penal reform, citing Minister for Justin Helen McEntee’s stalling on legal sentencing and prison conditions legislation.
For the remainder of her term she says she’ll have “a very specific focus on the committee on drug use”, which “will hopefully report in December”, although an interim report “specifically about drug policy – so decriminalisation, depenalisation” is expected sooner.
“Obviously, it’s going to be hard to get the government to do anything at this stage, so really the focus will be making sure that the report is fit for purpose”, she stated.
Clonan was elected in 2022 in a bye-election to fill Ivana Bacik’s seat after she won a seat in Dáil Éireann. He ran on a manifesto primarily focused on disability rights, and as a former Army Captain he has an active voice on matters concerning military neutrality and various global conflicts.
Clonan also confirmed that he is running for a seat on Trinity’s Seanad panel in the upcoming general election. He shared that he “was very surprised to be elected” back in 2022, after running a campaign that he described as “a protest”.
“It’s been a huge learning curve, the last two and a half years”, he said. “There’s no kind of induction, or mentoring or anything like that. Literally the day that you’re deemed elected, that’s it. You’re in Leinster House, and you’ve got to try and make sense of how everything works.”
He credits Ruane for being “a really wonderful colleague and a great mentor”. This mentorship has proved fruitful, with Clonan actively working on two substantial pieces of legislation despite his time in the Seanad not exceeding three years.
“There are some people in Oireachtas Éireann [the houses of the Irish government] who have been here for 10, 15, 20 years and have never introduced legislation. So, I think as an independent senator who’s just new, I would consider that a proven track record”.
They both concern disability rights. Clonan expects to bring the Disability Rights Bill 2023 to the final stage of legislation in the Seanad within the next month, and plans to ask a government minister to introduce it to the Dáil “within the lifetime of this government” for it to be voted into law.
Currently, Irish citizens have a right to an assessment of needs, which “sets out what you need to live as an autonomous, independent person”.
“I know the vast majority of disabled citizens in Ireland, when they get their assessment of needs, they’re just given a piece of paper that says what they need, but they don’t get the services and supports that are set out”, Clonan said.
His bill seeks to “make it legally obligatory for the State to provide” what is listed in an assessment of needs “within the therapeutic window”. He sees this as something that “would revolutionise how we manage disability” in Ireland. “It would go from being a charity bank model to being a fundamental human rights model guaranteed in law”, he said.
His experience in disability advocacy led him to campaign against the Government’s failed referenda earlier this year, specifically in regards to the carers’ amendment. He noted that former TCDSU President László Molnárfi, now an investigative reporter for Trinity News, was one of his most high profile supporters in this stance.
He has also drafted the Disability Personalised Budgets Bill of 2024, which would afford more autonomy to disability rights groups in the allocation of public funds to their cause, however this bill is in a more preliminary stage.
Shifting to his expertise in international affairs, he spoke to the ongoing situation in the Middle East: “My fear is that between now and October 7, which is the anniversary of Hamas’ genocidal attack on Israel, Netanyahu will sanction a grand invasion of Lebanon”.
He further said that “there’s clear signalling that if [the IDF] go into Lebanon, they’re going to slaughter people on the same scale as they have been doing in Gaza”.
This interview was conducted on September 25. Israel has since conducted a ground invasion of Lebanon, and has heavily increased its bombing of Beirut, killing over 2,000 people.
Clonan continued to say that the IDF “do not adhere to the international laws of armed conflict, and aren’t adhering to the principles of the Geneva Convention”, which he also says neither Hezbollah nor Hamas do either.
Ruane also plans to advocate for Palestine in the final months of her term, particularly honing in on the Arms Embargo Bill. This bill “seeks to ensure that munitions of war, weapons and dangerous goods are not being transferred to Israel through Ireland”.
In May 2024, Government delayed a reading of the bill by at least six months, effectively freezing it in the legislative process. Ruane wrote in a statement that “the Government’s inaction at this moment is an action in itself, and one that risks imposing further death, destruction and despair on the people of Gaza”.
She has also been a key figure in the Occupied Territories Bill, which would make it an offence to trade with illegal settlements in territories deemed occupied under international law, e.g. Israeli settlements in the West Bank. This is in the second stage of legislation in the Dáil and is yet to be presented to the Seanad for review.
The latest date Government can call a general election, which would also elect all 60 Seanad seats, is March 2025 – however some speculate this could happen as early as next month.
All Trinity graduates and scholars who are Irish citizens are entitled to vote for the three seats in the Dublin University Seanad constituency.
