The Dáil is largely redundant and should be given a real job to do

Thursday, July 09, 2009

The ultimate downgrade has been dealt by deputies themselves. The psyche of your average TD is focused on the overriding key priority to get re-elected. Sitting and speaking in the Dáil chamber or attendance at Oireachtas committees represents the poorest return on investment of their time

TOMORROW the Dáil rises for the summer recess. There will be the annual media derision of politicians vacating their place of work. The opposition will indulge in the usual hand-wringing recrimination. This familiar routine masks a deeper analysis of the ineffectiveness of our national parliament.

Dáil Éireann has been severely marginalised for years. Governments always want the minimal level of parliamentary accountability. For ministers, Dáil sessions are a pain in the backside.

The endless attendance for votes and quorums is a distraction from departmental business. The adversarial barracking provides a platform for opposition opportunism. Whoever is in Government will always favour minimal Dáil sittings. Hence, less scrutiny.

Ministers have long since eschewed the Dáil for significant announcements unless obliged to do so, such as on budget day. The Government PR and spin machines prefer set piece launches in Government Buildings or Dublin Castle.

For the past two decades, government has increased the irrelevance of the Dáil through the partnership process. By elevating agreement with IBEC, ICTU, farmers and the voluntary sector to the status of national co-decision, it reduced the Dáil to a meaningless talking shop.

Bertie Ahern perfected these structures to build a consensus around himself and the Government. The Dáil was deliberately relegated.

The permanent government – the civil service – barely disguise their contempt for parliament. Thousands of Dáil questions (written and oral) are the bane of their lives. Years of experience and skill are deployed to write non-answers. Vague platitudes and aspirations are deliberately used to obfuscate real intentions and decisions. The timing of publication of certain bills is deliberately done at the last minute to outwit opposition spokespersons. Significant amendments are introduced at committee or report stage to evade protracted analysis.

The media has reduced Dáil coverage. In the 1980s, broadsheet newspapers dedicated two or three full pages to parliamentary debates. Nowadays, many newspapers don’t find any Dáil contribution worthy of mention. The televising of the Dáil has not increased its profile. RTÉ’s Oireachtas coverage is timed to suit anoraks and insomniacs. The tabloids believe there is more readership interest in Peter André and Jordan than "suits" in parliament.

All of these external negative influences have conspired to diminish Dáil Éireann. The ultimate downgrade has been dealt by deputies themselves. The psyche of your average TD is focused on the overriding key priority to get re-elected. Sitting and speaking in the Dáil chamber or attendance at Oireachtas committees represents the poorest return on investment of their time.

The key to successful general elections is to be visible as a hard-working, humble advocate on behalf of your constituents. The oxygen of visibility is to have a high profile in your local and national print and broadcast media, articulating the concerns of the day with empathy and vigour.

It means being seen on the ground – on your local main street chatting to constituents. You learn to be good at loitering with intent. It is fatal to fail to attend funerals, clinics, social functions and meetings of party branches/cumann and residents’ associations. The last place country TDs want to be is Kildare Street.

The fundamental requirement to be an effective local social and community worker on the ground has led to organised absenteeism from parliament. Each week the respective party whips organise a tic-tac system that would do any betting ring proud. This facilitates minimal time for TDs to be present in the Dáil chamber. For non-essential votes, the Government’s voting margin of success can be maintained by approving ‘pairs’ for TDs to be elsewhere. This suits all sides, front and backbenchers.

The productivity of Dáil sitting days is outdated and excessively dependent on tradition. The normal weekly roster is for sittings to commence at 2.30pm on Tuesdays and 10.30am on Wednesdays and Thursdays. The Seanad usually sits one or two days a week. The House of Commons sits on Mondays and Fridays when in session. It’s not unreasonable for daily business to start at 9.30am and for the plenary sessions to be based on a five-day week model.

Similar efficiency changes here would only be worthwhile if there was a meaningful role for the Dáil. Last week, the Irish Examiner newspaper reported that the potential cost of the Mahon and Moriarty tribunals could be €434m. The requirement for tribunals to act as public investigative vehicles is because of the fundamental failure of the Oireachtas committee system. The only effective investigation inside politics has been the Public Accounts Committee work on the DIRT inquiry.

There has been an absence of proper powers within parliamentary committees. The effrontery of bankers such as Seán Fitzpatrick to not even turn up at committee hearings was a shocking indictment of the authority of parliament. Legislative and constitutional change must restore the primacy of parliamentary investigative powers and procedures. US congressional and senate committees can veto cabinet and judicial appointments as well as conduct powerful probes. Even the European Parliament has a more effective committee system.

If politicians aren’t prepared to confer appropriate powers to their own organs, how can they expect the rest of us to respect them? I am not impressed by the superficial gestures of Oireachtas "family days". Providing the public with access to the chamber and adjoining buildings is fine. The Dáil should not be reduced to the status of a visitor museum or the venue of a garden fête or field day in the city centre. The point of the Dáil should be its power. The national assembly must assert its authority and insist on accountability of Government.

PARLIAMENTARY procedure should be modernised. Question time should be extended to ensure each minister has to account for his or her stewardship on average an hour per week. The lack of capacity and constipation of the parliamentary draftsman’s office should be circumvented by facilitating private members’ bills on Fridays or Mondays. The British parliament has an annual lottery system where MPs can pursue niche legislative anomalies. "Free votes", beyond the straitjacket of the party whipping system, would allow latitude on non-partisan issues.

Over the summer recess we will see countless government quangos produce annual and specialist reports. These will gather dust. Proper debates could illuminate such publications. The recommendations of An Bord Snip Nua and the Commission on Taxation should be rigorously analysed by the Oireachtas. The authors should be meticulously cross-questioned.

The extra 3,000 jobless per week and the daily loss of €55m in government finances will not abate irrespective of the Dáil sitting. I don’t get overly exercised about the extent of the Dáil recess and the consequent hoo-ha. Much more significant is the requirement radically to reform and upgrade our parliament’s powers and procedures. The forces inside and outside the corridors of power have little motivation for any deviation from the status quo.

A dormant Dáil will be missed only marginally.

This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Thursday, July 09, 2009