“Elitist” is the word activist, author and lecturer Tom Clonan uses to describe the Seanad electoral process – while simultaneously being one of the candidates vying for the seat Ivana Bacik has left vacant. “For me, running for the Senate, it’s a protest.”
This is Clonan’s third crack at a Seanad seat, having run in 2016 and 2020. He is originally from Finglas, “a community that has completely and utterly been abandoned to organised crime”, and was the only boy in his year to go to Trinity. Clonan emphasises the privilege it is to have a vote in Seanad elections. In the 2020 election, there was only 23 per cent turnout among Trinity graduates – a “scandal”, according to him. “Can you imagine if disadvantaged communities could have three senate seats, what they could achieve and how much they could vote?”, he asks. “Trinity graduates take it for granted.”
As an independent candidate, a party-affiliated senator is oxymoronic in Clonan’s view. He believes that a senator’s role is to “hold political parties to account”: “If you belong to a party and you’re beholden to the party whip, you’re not empowered to do that.”
In a sea of 17 candidates, what sets Clonan apart from the rest? He says it’s all in his track record. During his 11-year stint as an army officer, Clonan undertook a PhD with Dublin City University (DCU), interviewing women in the Defence Forces. He said 59 out of 60 had experiences of bullying, harassment, sexual harassment and sexual assault. “I paid a huge price for that, in terms of whistleblower reprisal.” Clonan says he was threatened with criminal prosecution and faced with attempts to discredit his research. He was thanked by the Defence Forces 20 years after the fact. On the issue of violence against women, he says: “Men have to accept their responsibility in all of this and they have to step up to the plate, call it out and bring it to an end.”
Can you imagine if disadvantaged communities could have three senate seats, what they could achieve and how much they could vote?
On disability rights, Clonan says he has successfully lobbied third-level institutions to provide more supports for students with disabilities, irrespective of their course. He has consistently campaigned for the rights of people with disabilities. For him, the issue hits close to home: “I’ve got four kids and I’ve a son who has a disability who, because he has a disability, is denied his fundamental human rights every day, routinely, cruelly.” He gives examples: His son cannot access public transport as easily as able-bodied people, he is waitlisted for vital medical care and educational supports do not meet his basic needs.
It is “life-limiting” to have a disability in Ireland, Clonan continues – he believes Ireland “is the worst country in the European Union to have a disability on every measure: socialisation, poverty, homelessness, sub-optimal medical outcomes”.
“If he was LGBTQ, quite rightly, people would go crazy about this … or if he was Muslim or if he was a different ethnic group, but because he’s disabled everyone just goes: ‘Whatever, that’s just life.’”
As we emerge from the rubble of the pandemic, Clonan warns the government to think carefully about how we pick up the pieces. Economic recovery should go hand-in-hand with “ethical recovery”, he says. “I think we have been badly let down in the past in relation to issues of economy taking precedence over society and there has to be a balance.” This brings him to the recent Higher Education Authority bill, which would fundamentally change the governance structures of universities and give the state more input in their running.
Men have to accept their responsibility in all of this and they have to step up to the plate, call it out and bring it to an end
“I think government sees our universities as an extension of the economy and the establishment. I feel very strongly that our universities should be completely and utterly independent”, says Clonan. “What’s more important is that universities are the engine of our ethical recovery, that our universities should be strong voices for social action, for civil society.”
He believes universities should advocate for housing, social justice, people with disabilities and the elderly, saying sitting Trinity Senators Lynn Ruane and David Norris are “excellent on social justice”. According to Clonan, universities should more closely resemble the “provocative professariat” and “speak truth to power”. “If the government exerts too much control over the universities through those new models, I don’t think that’s a good thing, so I would be in favour of Trinity retaining its independence and its unique voice.”
While Clonan notes the effectiveness of College’s lobbying for exemptions from some of the proposed changes, he wouldn’t call Trinity “the most accountable and transparent university in the country”. He pledges tha, if elected, he will call for more transparency with the university’s finances. “There are questions around the Provost’s office and things like accommodation and where they live and how they live”, he says.
Reverting to issues of elitism and socio-economic divides, Clonan says he believes that Trinity is “less diverse” today than it was when he was an undergraduate in the college. “It’s very hard to get into Trinity. It shouldn’t be that hard. It should be diverse. I’m not saying you need to lower standards, but I think you need to make really proactive efforts to reach out to communities from which entry isn’t normally high.” He says increasing equity should not revolve around charitable donations, but rather structural changes that have a lasting impact. Some communities have been “great champions” of equality, but Clonan says there’s a long way to go.
I think government sees our universities as an extension of the economy and the establishment. I feel very strongly that our universities should be completely and utterly independent
On environmentalism, Clonan appears to have done his homework on the lesser-discussed consequences of climate change, with particular focus on the human aspect of the crisis. “We have millions and millions of people on the move and they’re trying to escape the effects of climate change and also conflict. We even have people now who are trying to cross the British Channel in inflatable dinghies.” He says they’re not fleeing “because they want to get a job at Starbucks in Croydon. They’re running for their lives because of what’s happening climate-change wise”.
While Ireland hasn’t experienced the full effects of climate change yet, Clonan feels passionately that steps must be taken now to stop it. Data centres currently use about 10 per cent of the country’s electricity output, and it’s rising. Their energy requirements are unsustainable, he says, adding that it’s time to reinvent the wheel when addressing the climate crisis on a national level. “It shouldn’t always be about foreign direct investment. We should encourage indigineous innovation.”
Clonan describes Irish neutrality as “the most important part of our foreign policy”. Having worked in many war-torn countries, he says the reception the Irish get when abroad is always positive due to our history of peacekeeping. “We’ve never colonised anybody, we’ve never invaded another country.” Clonan considers now to be an unstable time for the world and “the wrong time to even talk about changing our neutral status”.
The electorate is spoiled for choice in this bye election, with each candidate fighting for their approval. Clonan considers himself a candidate for change.
“I don’t understand why we have so many senators and TDs who are in the national parliament who follow the party line, obey the whip and don’t speak up. What is Seanad Eireann and the Dáil for? Is it for the people, is it for big business or is it for the status quo?”
