Shatter says TDs ‘shackled by tyranny of party whip system’

POLITICIANS should be allowed to vote with their conscience rather than having to slavishly follow the party line on important issues, Fine Gael TD Alan Shatter has said.

Mr Shatter hit out at the “party whip” system, under which members of parties are directed how to vote.

The system is common to all the big parties, Fine Gael included, and effectively puts shackles on TDs during contentious votes.

“Obsessive political party loyalty undermines our democratic structures and renders the Dáil and individual TDs politically impotent,” Mr Shatter said. “Public confidence in politicians is lacking and public cynicism of politics continues to grow.”

He said Fianna Fáil backbench TDs sometimes wished to criticise Government policy but felt constrained from doing so by the whip system, which he labelled “a tyranny”.

The system also works in reverse, where Fine Gael or other opposition party backbenchers may agree with a Government proposal but do not vote for it.

Mr Shatter cited as an example the recent Fine Gael motion criticising the Government’s record on the provision of applied behavioural analysis (ABA) for autistic children.

Fianna Fáil TD Mary O’Rourke supported the Government in defeating that motion, despite having earlier criticised the Department of Education’s “lingering animosity” towards ABA.

Mr Shatter said Ms O’Rourke had “understandably been accused by some of double standards”.

But he stressed: “The truth is, members of political parties know that it is frequently viewed as treason to vote against your party on any issue or, if your party is in government, to support a motion critical of a Government minister.

“The irony is if backbenchers had the courage to do so, they would be politically empowered and could truly force change.”

Mr Shatter said “change” was on the agenda in the US, referring to the dominance of that theme in the presidential primaries.

“Is it not time for us to think outside the box and, as is happening in the US, have a truly democratic conversation with each other?” he queried.

“The tyranny of the party whip rules on all voting issues. It is time that intelligent, able Dáil members, in opposition and on Government backbenches, were entitled to exercise judgment.

“We should also acknowledge that appointment as a government minister does not endow that person with a monopoly of wisdom on all issues for which they have government responsibility.”