Here is an article from the Irish Times today outlining what we have all long suspected that senior Irish cabinet ministers indulge in a peculiarly Irish form of pork barrel, directing funds at their home constituencies. Voters are assumed to vote for candidates who have a good chance of becoming a minister in order to…
Phil Hogan today: Fine Gael’s ‘New Politics’ plan is the most ambitious political reform package since the 1930s and will place the Citizen firmly at the centre of government, Party Environment Spokesman, Phil Hogan TD said at its launch today (Monday). See document here What do you think?
Elaine Byrne wrote today that “deep-seated institutional change must rebalance the relationship between the government and the Dáil….by reducing the power of the whip and allowing more issues to be decided by free votes.”
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.
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…
Link to article
The mixed messages coming from Government on the purpose of Nama shows that even with godd debate in the Dáil and the media, government is where policy is made and any attempt to reform the political system should not ignore this. Eoin O’Malley’s IT article.
Muiris MacCartaigh’s IT article.
Read John Coakley’s article from the political reform conference
Irish Politics Forum 