ABOLISH THIS HOUSE ..AND SAVE EUR150MILLION; Call to scrap Seanad and TDs.

Byline: AINE HEGARTY

SCRAPPING the Seanad and slashing the number of TDs could save the country EUR150million over the next five years.

There is growing support for the Upper House to be axed after the cost of what is often dubbed a talking shop for failed politicians was revealed.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny has vowed to shut the Seanad if he becomes Taoiseach but even Government ministers such as Noel Dempsey have admitted they agree it should go.

Mr Kenny also vowed to slash the number of TDs from 166 to 146.

When asked if the Seanad still has a role to play, the Transport Minister said: "I'm not really sure there is at this stage. There's certainly not a role for it in the way it's elected at the moment with the various panels that people are not familiar with."

Mr Kenny pointed out that other countries including Sweden, Denmark and New Zealand have axed their upper houses while the majority of European parliaments are now made up of just one house.

Countries that have an upper and lower house tend to be large or federal.

With Ireland's population just more than 4 million, Fine Gael claims there is no justification for continuing to pay for the 60 senators.

Unlike the Dail, they are not directly elected but consist of a mixture of members chosen by various methods.

Its powers are much weaker than the Dail and it can only delay laws it disagrees with, rather than veto them outright.

Mostly the Seanad rubberstamps laws that have been drawn up and debated in the Dail.

The latest report from the Oireachtas, which covers 2007, shows the huge costs involved in running the Seanad. This includes EUR4.1million for senators wages, EUR2.5million for secretarial assistants, EUR1.7million in travel expenses and EUR1.4million in other allowances and expenses.

This doesn't include unvouched expenses and generous allowances to which they are entitled.

Figures released under Freedom of Information revealed senators claimed a further EUR3million in unvouched expenses during the first 11 months of last year.

That's an average of EUR50,000 per senator on top of their hefty salary and brings their average pay packet to EUR120,000.

Many of the senators also hold down other lucrative posts as lecturers - which could help to explain their frequent absences from the house.

With the senate only sitting for 64 days in 2007, members were paid EUR1,875 for every day it sat.

The way senators are chosen has also been criticised as being outdated.

WELL REPRESENTED

GERMANY

614 (Bundestag), pop 82.4m - 1 rep for every 130,853 people

SPAIN

350 (lower house), pop 45.2m - 1 rep for every 129,142 people

FRANCE 

577 members, pop 64.5m - 1 rep for every 111,738 people

ITALY

630 (deputies), pop 59.2m - 1 rep for every 93,978 people

NEW ZEALAND

120 MPs, pop 4,2m - 1 rep for every 34,778 people

IRELAND

166 TDs, pop 4.1m - 1 rep for every 25,036 people

CAPTION(S):

VOW Minister Enda Kenny WASTE OF MONEY? The Seanad