Royal Irish Academy, Dawson Street November 2 2012 1.15-5.30pm An event organised by We the Citizens, in cooperation with the Royal Irish Academy and the G1000 (Belgium) This event is designed to coincide with the establishment of the Irish government’s constitutional convention. This is the first time an Irish government has involved ordinary citizens in…
John Drennan’s Sindo article points to growing backbench opposition to the government’s proposed referendum on abolishing the Seanad. This development is unsurprising, given the tightness of electoral margins in Ireland’s political system and the personal investment of Oireachtas members in retaining their positions (although, as we all know, the pension’s not too bad if you do get the…
Posted by Elaine Byrne The Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality has invited written submissions from interested groups or individuals in relation to the Heads of the Criminal Justice (Corruption) Bill. If you wish to make a written submission you can send it to the Clerk to the Committee at: justiceanddefence@oir.ie before the end…
Posted by Matt Wall A letter to the Irish Times from six former Senators represents a faltering start to the campaign against the government’s plans to abolish the Seanad. The six argue, as many others have and will, for reform rather than abolition. Sadly, their case is not helped by the farcical nature of many of the ‘debates’…
Really interesting debate on the government’s plans to involve citizens in Irish constitutional reform with contributions from: this site’s Elaine Byrne, Conor O’Mahony, a constitutional law expert from UCC, and Oliver Moran from the Second Republic civil society group. Labour’s Alex White gamely defending the government’s performance and plans to date – though he was…
Posted by Elaine Byrne The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform hosted a conference on lobbying in Farmleigh recently. These presentations were made available today. Regulation of lobbying policy proposals. The presentation by Lynn Morrison, Integrity Commissioner & Lobbyists Registrar of Ontario. The presentation by Áine Stapleton, Department of Public Expenditure & Reform. Minister Brendan…
So I recently learned that The Electoral (Amendment) (Political Funding) Bill 2011 will soon be passed as law. Looks like some really progressive stuff, especially when you look at the ongoing hyper monetization of politics that is taking place in the usa. I can’t wait to see the parties publish comprehensive accounts, which should let…
Posted by Elaine Byrne Dr Niamh Hardiman of UCD wrote a piece yesterday for the Sunday Business Post on governance which is posted in full below. Her edited collected, Irish Governance In Crisis, published by Manchester University Press (2012) is launched this week. Niamh Hardiman teaches in UCD School of Politics and International Relations. What…
The Constitutional Studies Group in UCD School of Law is hosting a conference on The Irish Constitution: Past, Present and Future from Thursday to Saturday this week at Kings Inns in Dublin city. This includes sessions on political reform. Details of the panels, papers and how to register are available here.
Administration, published by the Institute of Public Administration, has just been re-launched and includes an article by Minister Howlin on ‘Reform of the Public Service’.
Irish Politics Forum 