Burton argues for budget reform
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.
The Thirty Year Rule (but subject to exemptions…)
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…
Do TDs have little interest in being legislators?
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…
A proposal for a new constitution for Iceland delivered to the Althing by The Constitutional Council
Post by David Farrell (October 17, 2011) Due to great interest from various organisations and individuals abroad, The Constitutional Society in Iceland has obtained and published an independent English translation of The Constitutional Bill delivered by The Constitutional Council 29 July 2011. This can be found here.
Changing framework for a new civic Republic
The left wing think tank Tasc yesterday released a series of essays. One was written anonymously allegedly by a senior civil servant. The Irish Times reported on it here. Much of the language is similar to posters on here. It derides a culture of secrecy, and argues that our inherited political, institutional and legal framework…
We must move from regarding State as enemy and oppressor
Last week The Irish Times published the late Peter Mair’s excellent speech at MacGill this year (about 30 minutes in). Mair argued that the problem in Ireland is that we don’t respect our State. We have never respected our State. We have never had a sense of belonging for our State. If anything we have…
Internet Win – Wikipedia entry on ‘Citizens’ Assembly’
I recall studying the Enlightenment in West European history and being fascinated by Diderot’s Encyclopédie project. It was an amazing effort and achievement in its own right, but can really only be understood in the broader context of Enlightement goals and values, perhaps best explained by Kant in his essay: ‘An Answer to the Question:…
So, what’s next?
Post by David Farrell (August 13, 2011) As reported in earlier posts on this blog, this government has made some quite impressive progress on implementing the political reform proposals proposed in its Programme for Government. They’ve made a good start. But, arguably most of this has been the low-hanging fruit, the relatively easy targets. We’ve…
How should we rewrite our constitution?
Looking on from abroad for most of the campaign, I was amazed at some of the proposals for reform that emerged. Both of the government parties have posted documents detailing these promises on their websites. In my opinion, Labour had one of the most radical political reform policy platforms of the campaign. The key plank…
Reforms are driven by optics
The Dáil debated possible new Dáil reforms yesterday. The reforms introduced by the Chief Whip Paul Kehoe are to include: The introduction of Topical Issue Debates to replace the current Adjournment Debates Extra Dáil sitting days – on the first Friday of every month – to provide time for TDs to introduce their own Bills…
Irish Politics Forum 