How to involve citizens in the process of political reform

January 24, 2012

Posted by David Farrell (January 24, 2012)

In an interesting piece in today’s Irish Times (see here), Peadar Kirby and Mary P. Murphy make a persuasive case for involving ordinary citizens in the constitutional convention that the government is anticipated to establish in the very near future.

While they take issue with the approach proposed by We The Citizens (which some of us involved in this blog were also involved with), they share the same fundamental ambition of actively engaging with citizens in the process of political and constitutional reform that this government has promised (and hopefully will start delivering on soon). Read the rest of this entry »

16 Comments | New Republic | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by David Farrell

Gender quotas are not ‘boneheaded’

January 20, 2012

Posted by David Farrell (January 20, 2012)

In a spirited opinion piece in today’s Irish Times, Daniel Sullivan takes issue with gender quotas (see here), describing the idea variously as wrong, unworkable and even ‘boneheaded’. He appears to have three main problems with the proposal.   Read the rest of this entry »

13 Comments | women in politics | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by David Farrell

Burton argues for budget reform

January 15, 2012

Today’s Sunday Independent is interesting for what appears to have been an in depth interview given by Joan Burton. The interviews is here and the analysis here. Read the rest of this entry »

14 Comments | Committee System, Government reform | Permalink
Posted by Jane Suiter

Political reform at a snail’s pace

January 14, 2012

Posted by David Farrell (January 14, 2012)

Two areas greatly in need for reform are funding of politics and the operation of the Dáil – both in the news today (see here and here).  In fairness to the government, some move has been made on both agendas (more generally, see here): legislation has been brought in relating to donations to political parties; and there have been changes to how the Dáil operates including the introduction of Friday sittings. Read the rest of this entry »

23 Comments | Corruption and Accountability, Dail Reform | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by David Farrell

The Thirty Year Rule (but subject to exemptions…)

December 31, 2011

As stated by the fictional character of Sir Humphrey Appleby in Yes Minister ‘Open Government is a contradiction in terms. You can be open, or you can have government. The Thirty Year rule is a good example of this situation.

The thirty year rule allows for the release of Cabinet Documents after the efflux of a thirty year period from the year in which they were created. Section 10 of the National Archives Act allows for the inspection of records except where they are less than 30 years old (s.10.1 (a)) or older than 30 years where their release may be contrary to the public interest, breach of statutory duty or cause damage or distress to living persons (s. 8.4). The documents which are the subject to the provisions of s 8.4 can be reviewed after a period five years by a member of the Government Department responsible for the records. Furthermore, under s.10.6 a Minister, or member of Government, is entitled to grant access to departmental document prior to the elapse of this thirty year time period.  This section was used in 1992 to allow for the release of Cabinet Documents in the wake of the confusion of the Hamilton Judgment. Read the rest of this entry »

4 Comments | Constitution, freedom of information, Government reform | Permalink
Posted by Jennifer Kavanagh

Do TDs have little interest in being legislators?

December 20, 2011

Stephen Collins writing in last Saturday’s Irish Times he argues that one of the big commitments made by the Coalition during the February election and again after it took office was that it would reform the political system. He adds that while there have been some welcome changes to date, they represent a tinkering at the edges rather than fundamental reform. Read the rest of this entry »

12 Comments | Committee System, Dail Reform, Government reform | Permalink
Posted by Jane Suiter

Fine Gael-Fianna Fail grand coalition the only option?: Sunday Times-Behaviour & Attitudes poll (18th December 2011)

December 18, 2011

The Sunday Times-Behaviour & Attitudes poll (18th December 2011) points to a more than signficant dip in support for the government parties following the budger, with a notable recovery for Fianna Fail building on a strong showing in the Dublin West by-election and Sinn Fein occupying second place in the party rankings. With support levels and projected seat numbers roughly similar for both the government alliance and the most likely alternative government and both somewhat off the level required to ensure a majority in the Dail – party seat levels would be estimated as follows: Fine Gael 61, Labour 13, Fianna Fail 36, Sinn Fein 33, Green Party 2, Others 21 - the likelihood of a hung Dail would be very strong based on these figures unless Fine Gael and Fianna Fail were willing to enter a coalition government. But the main thing to emerge from this poll is what seemed to be unthinkable only a few months ago – the possibility that Fianna Fail will be in government again after the next general election. Read the rest of this entry »

24 Comments | opinion polls | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Adrian Kavanagh

Sovereignty, the Constitution and the ‘fiscal compact’

December 12, 2011

By Eoin Daly, School of Law and Government, DCU

Will Ireland need to hold a referendum to ratify the fiscal ‘compact’ recently agreed by 26 EU member states? To answer this, I will explain the concept and status of sovereignty in the Constitution. This, in turn, dictates whether, and under what circumstances, Ireland’s participation in supra-national institutional systems requires constitutional amendments specifically permitting such arrangements. Read the rest of this entry »

12 Comments | Constitution | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Eoin O'Malley

State of Enda? Sunday Business Post-Red C poll (4th December 2011)

December 4, 2011

The Sunday Business Post-Red C poll (4th December 2011) shows a dip in support (albeit not a dramatic one) for the government parties, with a notable recovery for Fianna Fail building on a strong showing in the Dublin West by-election (and probably also related to Sean Gallagher’s strong campaign for the presidential election). Read the rest of this entry »

4 Comments | opinion polls | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Adrian Kavanagh

G1000: Belgium’s Citizens’ Summit

November 12, 2011

Posted by David Farrell (November 12, 2011)

On November 11, 800 citizens from across Belgium were brought together to discuss the future of their country. G1000 was conceived a few months ago by a small group of Belgian citizens (the key player is a prominent author and columnist, David van Reybrouck; the others are a mix of academics, journalists, and civil society activists) who were concerned about the failure of their political system to get to grips with the economic crisis.

Exercised in particular by the inability of Belgium’s politicians to form a government and the resulting political limbo, the opening line of the group’s manifesto, states: ‘if the politicians can’t find a solution let the citizens’. G1000 seeks to show the country’s political leaders that they should engage with the citizens in seeking a way out of the mess. Their principal objectives are both to show that deliberative democracy can work, and to produce concrete proposals for the government to consider. Read the rest of this entry »

83 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by David Farrell

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