Don’t stab at Irish political reform

Irish political reform is  in danger of getting off on the wrong foot. There may be a referendum next year for abolishing the Seanad and all party talks are proceeding to reduce the number of Dail committees, so that the surviving ones can assume a stronger scrutiny role. There may be much merit in both (although I have my doubts about the former). What’s wrong  is that the process so far belongs  exclusively to the political elite who incubated the problems in the first place.  But surely political reform featured in the party manifestos? Yes but how many noticed when they were reeling from the consequences of the  financial crisis? Political reform is a tricky project. It appears remote from real life but it can affect it powerfully.

 The Dublin political parties should  pause and learn from the mistakes of the British coalition counterparts  who rushed too quickly into electoral reform and setting a bonfires of the quangos ( semi-state bodies), and who may be about  to repeat the mistake over reform of the  House of Lords. The lesson worth learning is that if you’ve been waiting generations for reform, you should take time to win consensus and  get it right. An exchange of ideas between Britainand Ireland could prove fruitful.

What has happened to the  People’s Convention? Initiatives such as We Citizens may be modest in themselves but they  can stimulate the debate needed before the Irish public are confronted by  deceptively simple choices.

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