Conference announcement: Zipping, twinning or all women shortlists? Electoral systems and the representation of women

Posted by David Farrell (March 19, 2012) Next Workshop on Political Representation Issues Interested colleagues, including research fellows and students, are warmly invited to attend the first of the McDougall Trust’s 2012 series of lunchtime workshops on political representation issues. Light refreshments (coffee, tea, biscuits, pastries, fruit juice) will be available from 12.45 pm and…

Can Martin remake Fianna Fáil into a democratic party?

Guest post by R.K. Carty (posted by David Farrell, March 13, 2012) March 3, 2012 may mark the second most important date in Fianna Fáil history. On the 16th of May 1926, De Valera, Lemass and their gang took a deliberate decision to create a new organization themselves. Now, eighty-six years later, Martin and Dorgan…

Government progress on political reform: some boxes ticked, but much more to do

Posted by David Farrell (March 8, 2012) The government’s (presumably first) annual report 2012 includes a chapter on political reform, helpfully listing the achievements to date. At first blush, if we take the list purely at face value, it does look impressive enough:

Constitutional Assembly – TCD student submission

Posted by Elaine Byrne As part of a class project on deliberative democracy and the Constitutional Assembly, these are the views of the Comparative Political Reform, Senior Sophister Class, Department of Political Science, Trinity College Dublin Brief Background Statement A renewed focus on the nature of the democracy in the aftermath of the Arab spring and…

The Perfect Storm

Ben Tonra (posted by David Farrell, February 29 2012) This referendum campaign will have a profoundly different dynamic to those that have gone before. The first point is that this is not an “EU Treaty”. As a result, and according to its own provisions, just 12 of the Eurozone member states need to ratify it…

Has Sinn Fein’s day come? Sunday Business Post-Red C (4th March) and Sunday Times-Behaviour & Attitudes poll (26th February 2012)

The Sunday Business Post-Red C (4th March) and Sunday Times-Behaviour & Attitudes (26th February) polls both point to a significant gain in Sinn Fein support relative to that party’s support levels in the previous such poll, with the party having achieved record high levels in the history of both polls.

Research on Reasons Behind Voter Behaviour in the Oireachtas Inquiry Referendum 2011

From Jane Suiter A group of us including Professor Michael Marsh, Dr Theresa Reidy and I along with Red C were commissioned to undertake research following the referendums in November with a view to learning lessons for future referendum campaigns. The report is here and the presentation given to the Oireachtas Committee on Investigations, Oversight…

Second Republic AGM March 3rd at Odessa Club

The civic group, Second Republic, who have been involved in campaigning for a Citizens’ Assembly for Political Reform, will hold their second AGM in Dublin on Saturday week.Time: 10:00-13:00 and 14:00-16:30 Date: Saturday, 3 March Venue: Odessa Club, 14 Dame Court, Dublin 2. The AGM will happen very shortly after the Government will have announced…

Constitutional Convention looks to include a citizen assembly

It is great to see that the Government is making good on its word to establish a Constitutional Convention, see report here. There are many parts of the 1937 Constitution which should be looked at from a political reform perspective. Some of these including reducing the voting age, allowing gay marriage and abolishing the Seanad…

Presidential election expenses released

By Eoin O’Malley (15 February, 2012) SIPO last night released details for candidate election expenses – set out here. They provide useful information as to what candidates spent their money on in the campaign and how much each spent. They are less useful, however, for disclosing where each candidate’s money came from. We can see, for instance,…

Irish Politics Forum

A PSAI blog for discussion of politics, policy and political reform