By Matt Wall Fintan O’Toole’s summary of the reforms that he proposes in his new book: ‘Enough is Enough’ advocates ’30 key steps’ to that we need to take to reform democracy in Ireland – many of which have been debated intensely on this site. Some of these are more contested than others, there are well-rehearsed arguments on either…
By Matt Wall The policy of indefinite delay of outstanding by-elections that has been pursued by the current government has lead to a withering assessment by Mr. Justice Nicholas Kearns; the report in today’s Irish Independent reproduces the most damning statements from the judgment, which are as follows:
Posted by Eoin O’Malley If electronic voting was rejected because of the absence of a paper trail, perhaps this voting system could solve that problem. It would mean an end to the tallymen, and for that reason alone doesn’t get my vote. #mce_temp_url#
By Eoin O’Malley, 3rd November, 2010 The decision today to criticise the government for offending the spirit of the constitution is likely to accelerate the holding of the Donegal by-election. But the High Court may be mistaken in reading the procedures for holding a by-election, and so the logic of the decision may be questionable.
Prof Ken Carty’s presentation on citizens’ assemblies and political reform at the Policy Institute, Trinity College Dublin http://www.tcd.ie/policy-institute/citizensassembly.php Media references and photographs of Prof Ken Carty’s seminar:
Prof David Farrell gave a compelling lecture this week on electoral reform to the Trinity Senior Sophister class studying Comparative Political Reform. The class have read and debated the various themes — Electoral reform has become a lightning rod issue for reformists in many different countries. But is it the wrong answer to the…
posted by Elaine Byrne The Department of Justice have recently published a discussion document on “Organised and White Collar Crime”, and this paper can be found here.
Posted by Séin Ó Muineacháin The brief flurry of debate caused last year by Enda Kenny’s claim that, if elected Taoiseach, he would put it to the people that Seanad Éireann should be abolished was short-lived, but interesting nonetheless. The modern incarnation of the Seanad (in spite of the high esteem in which its predecessor…
Posted by Elaine Byrne Transparency International published its annual corruption perception index (CPI) this week. As this map shows, Ireland ranks very favourably in comparative terms. Since 1995 Ireland has more or less ranked in the top twenty least corrupt countries in the world. The CPI has been credited widely with putting the issue of…
Posted by Elaine Byrne Derek Scally in today’s Irish Times on ‘Ireland needs a national forum for cogent debate.’ In particular he writes about: “Three years on, the country is crying out for meaningful public debate beyond media bun fights and political soundbites. This debate needs a home, a place where civil society and politics…
Irish Politics Forum 