Here are some edited highlights of the Deliberative Democracy conference held in the Royal Irish Academy some weeks ago, including interviews with the participants there – some of the world’s leading experts on deliberative democracy in practice – on the prospects for the Irish Constitutional Convention.
It is still far too early to be definitive in the analysis of the result of the Children’s Referendum obviously research is needed in order to ascertain why turnout was so low and why people voted in the way that they did. What we can say is that Saturday voting is unlikely to be the…
RADICAL OR REDUNDANT? MINOR PARTIES IN IRISH POLITICS edited by Liam Weeks (UCC) and Alistair Clark (Newcastle University) (History Press Ireland, Dublin, 2012) This book examines the fortunes of small political parties in Ireland and asks why no new party has yet emerged. While the type of minor political party in Ireland has varied, their fate,…
The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin has today outline his plans for to allow Oireachtas Inquires within the limits of the rejection of the constitutional referendum last year. the RTE report is here. The official announcement is here The Bill will now be drafted so much is still to be played for,…
On Friday, the Ireland Stat pilot website went live at http://www.irelandstat.gov.ie According to the DPER the objective of Ireland Stat is “to provide a whole-of-Government performance measurement system. At its simplest the website brings together data from a whole variety of different sources and sets them in the context of Department’s goals to show what…
Theresa Reidy and myself had a piece in the Irish Times earlier this week on the need to think about change for referendum rules. Many of the comments on The Irish Times site were from no voters in the Children’s Referendum who appeared to think that we would seek to ensure that their voices are…
Adrian Kavanagh, 18th October 2012 – updates on 19th November 2012 A number of recent opinion polls all point towards gains in Fianna Fail support levels, albeit to varying degrees, leaving Fianna Fail at its highest support level in opinion polls since the IMF-EU bailout in November 2010 and positioned as the second most popular party in…
Regular contributor Donal has asked us to link to his case for Swiss-style citizens initiative and direct democracy, which the Human Rights in Ireland website* has just published as part of the series Shadow Constitutional Convention, He argues that there may be change in the criteria of decision-making at the top; change in social habits…
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…
Adrian Kavanagh, 22nd September 2012 The first Sunday Business Post-Red C (23rd September) poll following the summer recess points towards a gain in Sinn Fein support and a slight decline in support levels for Labour and the Independents and Others grouping. The poll puts national support levels for the main political parties and groupings as follows: Fine…
Irish Politics Forum 