Posted by Dan O’Brien Reading this blog in recent weeks and Elaine Byrne’s piece in Tuesday’s Irish Times, it strikes me that while anti-intellectualism has long been a feature of Irish life, it seems that even the intellectual class in Ireland is hostile to ideas. Some thoughts. First, last weekend a conference was held on…
Strong stuff from Elaine Byrne and Fintan O’Toole in today’s Irish Times. The latter berates the Irish people for lacking the ‘political viagra’ necessary to push through true political reform; whereas the former throws a punch directly at blogs such as this for ‘pouring cold water’ on the question of fundamental constitutional overhaul. Fair points?…
Yesterday’s conference on constitutional reform brought together lawyers, political scientists and economists to discuss the question whther Ireland needs constitutional reform. Though the only media coverage of the even related to Michael McDowell ‘slamming’ the media, a much more interesting conclusion emerged. There was a surprising consensus on the answer to the question set –…
In today’s Irish Times (http://bit.ly/azsuil) Labour leader, Eamon Gilmore provides more detail about his proposal for a Constitutional Convention: “Labour’s proposal is that we should convene a 30-member constitutional convention with an open mandate. Ten of its members would be drawn from the Oireachtas, 10 from non-governmental associations and organisations, and 10 ordinary citizens selected…
Posted by Dan O’Brien Electoral systems are like exchange rate regimes – none is perfect and all have downsides. I have not suggested that changing Ireland’s system is a panacea, but rather that it, and the making more normal the way the executive is formed, would be the two biggest steps in improving the effectiveness…
This is in the text of the LibDem-Tory agreement 6. Political Reform The parties agree to the establishment of five-year fixed-term parliaments. A Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government will put a binding motion before the House of Commons in the first days following this agreement stating that the next general election will be held on the first…
In the absence of parliament’s ability to form a new government without recourse to an election, a minority government could be forced to limp on until its fixed term ends.
One half of last night’s RTE Aftershock programming was devoted to political reform, with both commentators calling for a new constitution to replace Bunreacht na hÉireann. In essence Dan O’Brien of the Economist Intelligence Unit argued that PR-STV ought to be replaced by a list system (he did not specify whether that should be open…
First-past-the-post’s big advantage, its proponents say, is that it is supposed to deliver clear government, but as we can see in this election it does not always do that. Britain now has what the British in doom-laden fashion call a hung parliament. They seem genuinely shocked that they may have to negotiate ‘behind closed doors’…
By David Stanton TD It is clear to everyone that our parliamentary system needs reform. Dáil Éireann in its current state is not fit for purpose. Fine Gael recently published a policy document “New Politics” which sets out wide-ranging proposals for Dáil reform including the abolition of the Seanad. We have not addressed the electoral…
Irish Politics Forum 