By Matt Wall, May 3rd, 2011. In the recent election campaign, political reform finally entered the agenda of mainstream Irish politics. Given the awful political and economic mess in which the country currently finds itself, this is not surprising. However, political promises during an election campaign are not always a reliable guide as to the actions that…
Jennifer Kavanagh 23/03/2011 (Originally posted on quiatimet.com 22/03/2011) Today the final Moriarty report was revealed. The allegations therein have caused many to speculate whether charges will be made against any of the persons involved for corruption. One of the people named in the report happens to be that of Michael Lowry who is a sitting…
By Jane Suiter I am delighted to see that in the Programme for Government it appears that there will be a full ministry for Public Sector Reform, it is long overdue. As the Programme for Government notes the public service is about serving the common good, not sectional interests. Various interest groups have dominated for…
Eoin O’Malley (5 March, 2011) Yesterday some of us wrote in the Irish Times about what might need to be done in the government’s first week to show it is serious about political reform. One of the suggestions was for using the Seanad route to appoint a minister with relevant experience to what will be…
Posted by Matt Wall, Feb 18th, 2011. It’s amazing how rapidly an idea can take off. I first heard of Citizen Assemblies in 2009 when I was doing research work for the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Constitution. The Committee was looking at mechanisms to reform our electoral system. Broadly speaking, the reason for using…
Eoin O’Malley (7 February, 2011) Usually the preserve of academics and the dull newspaper articles of retired politicians, the reform of the political system is now being raised by ordinary people in vox pops and radio phone-ins. That means that many people are peddling their ideas about the reform of the political system that on…
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…
By Michael Gallagher There has been some discussion as to whether, in the event of Brian Cowen’s deciding not to contest the forthcoming election, it would be constitutional for him to remain as Taoiseach, given that the constitution states (Art 28.7.1) that the Taoiseach must be a member of Dáil Éireann. There has been speculation…
Eoin O’Malley (22 January, 2011) Brian Cowen’s decision to stand down comes mainly because he showed a lack of political judgement in pursuing a cabinet reshuffle to renew his party just weeks before an election. Cowen claimed he should have been allowed to reshuffle his cabinet as he wanted. He said it was the convention that party…
Eoin O’Malley (10 January, 2011) A bit like democracy, motherhood and apple pie, everyone is in favour of the separation of powers. But how does it work in Ireland and what happens when there’s a conflict between the branches of state power? What should happen?
Irish Politics Forum 