Last week the Dáil passed a government motion to make three important changes to Standing Orders (in typical Dáil fashion with little debate). In summary, the changes that will be in operation from the start of the next Dáil session are: A secret ballot to elect the Ceann Comhairle, Use of d’Hondt formula to allocate…
Independents are back in the news this week, specifically Michael Lowry and his ‘will-he won’t-he’ be in the mix for government formation in a few weeks. 2011 was a peak election for non-party candidates but it looks like the numbers running in 2016 might exceed that previous high point. Independent candidates are not a new…
Last week — in the closing days of the 31st Dáil, and long past the agreed time for a government response — the government finally found some time to deal with the remaining reports of the Irish Constitutional Convention. This provides an opportunity for a final report card on the government’s reactions to the ICC, a…
Two new polls were hailed as good news for Fianna Fáil this weekend. A Red C poll put the party up 2 points to 19 per cent, while B&A put the party up 1 point to 20 per cent. In fact, neither change is statistically significant on its own – with the December poll of…
More hints are emerging about the government’s intentions relating to the election of the next Ceann Comhairle. As reported in a recent post, the government is about to propose a change to Dáil standing orders so that the Ceann Comhairle of the next Dáil will be elected by a secret ballot of all members. As a number of…
Posted by David Farrell, Eoin O’Malley, Theresa Reidy and Jane Suiter January 4, 2016 Much like waiting a long time for the proverbial bus only to see several arrive together it seems the political parties (at least some of them) are starting to take the Dáil reform agenda a little more seriously.
The RTÉ Prime Time Investigates report on corruption among some councillors broadcast last night inevitably draws a reaction of how do we rid a country of corruption. A simple answer might be to stop electing probably corrupt candidates. Charles Haughey continued to get elected even though rumours that he amassed his fortune corruptly were rife. Michael Lowry continues…
Fine Gael has strengthened its position in the polls over the last few months. At 29% it polls about 3% higher than in July of this year. Independents and small parties went down, however, from 27% to 22% over the same period of time. These are the most important findings from the new Irish Polling…
Published by Elaine Byrne 13 November 2015 The OECD published a preliminary draft of its Review of Budget Oversight by Parliament: Ireland this week. The report can be accessed here. Key points: Budget oversight by the Irish parliamentary chambers is under-developed by international standards. 17 recommendations which include – Ex ante parliamentary input to medium-term fiscal…
A free event to be held at UCD Newman House, November 13, 2015, 9.30am-1.00pm To register, see here Ireland’s Convention on the Constitution, which met from late 2012 to early 2014, was a world first both in allowing ordinary citizens a place in discussions about the future of our Constitution and also due to its role in the…
