Eoin O’Malley (10 March, 2011)
For much of the election campaign parties promised that there would be a change to the way politics was done. This continued to the first day of the 31st Dáil. But will it? One way to judge the government is by the programme for government, and another by its actions. Continue reading
The editors and contributors behind polticalreform.ie have teamed with a large volunteer team of project managers, web designers and others to produce ReformCard a measurement tool to rank each party based on the quality of their policies on political reform. We hope this will prove a critical instrument in informing the election 2011 debate. It provides the 25 proposals for political reform in Ireland which we believe provide the best possible combination to transform the political system and ensure it is fit for purpose in the 21st century. Continue reading
Labour has published its 140 proposals for the reform of the political system. I have not yet finished reading it but thought it might be worthwhile to post the link now.
Posted by Eoin O’Malley, 8 December, 2010
Fionnán Sheehan reports in today’s Irish Independent that the government is considering putting a question by referendum on election day to abolish the Seanad. This might be seen as a genuine attempt at reform, a desperate attempt to divert attention from the obvious – the economy -, or a way to deliver some electoral goodies for Green voters. In any case it would hardly seem worth it. First, I suspect nothing will reset the agenda of the election away from anything other than the economy. Second , if it is an attempt at reforming a broken political system, it’ll do little to fix it. And Green voters might not be impressed by this, coming as it does, on the eve of an election – it might smack of desperation. Continue reading
It’s the not the government, but the Dáil that elects the Ceann Comhairle. The constitution makes no reference to how the Ceann Comhairle is elected, so if the Dáil wished to change the rules of election, it is free to do so. Continue reading
Posted by Eoin O’Malley
In the political calculations made last week on the removal of John O’Donoghue and selection of a new Ceann Comhairle, two things seemed to be most important in the Taoiseach’s calculations. One was the FF/ Green majority – so getting a Fine Gael or Labour TD would have eased the pressure on the government’s tight Dáil arithmetic. The other was Brian Cowen’s position within the Fianna Fáil party – apparently giving just a plum job to a Blueshirt would have caused him more problems than he could afford. Continue reading
