Martin suggests automatic re-election of taoisigh after Dáil term

A TAOISEACH should be automatically re-elected to the Dáil at the end of his or her term, Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin has suggested.

Such a move would free the leader of the country from worrying about constituency issues for the duration of their term in office and would allow taoisigh to devote all their time to national issues, he said.

The Constitution already provides such an arrangement for the Dáil Ceann Comhairle because that person cannot actively engage in politics once appointed. This means that current Ceann Comhairle Seamus Kirk will be automatically reelected to the Dáil at the next general election.

Mr Martin was speaking in a personal capacity at a conference on political reform in University College Cork yesterday. The conference was organised by UCC’s Department of Government to mark the launch of Government and Politics Review, an undergraduate journal in political science.

Mr Martin praised all those involved in the production of the journal, particularly the five students who had written articles for the first edition: Aisling Bolger, Laura Murphy, Cliodhna Ní Neill, Amy O’Flaherty and Robert Porter Fitzgibbon.

The conference also heard from Fiona Buckley of UCC, who argued that quotas were one of the most effective strategies to encourage greater numbers of women to enter politics.

She expressed disappointment that the Fine Gael parliamentary party had recently rejected a proposal by leader Enda Kenny to impose quotas of women candidates, describing it as a “missed opportunity”.

Experience elsewhere in Europe had shown that if a large party introduced quotas, it could have a contagious effect.

Ms Buckley said it could take decades to eliminate the social, cultural and political barriers to greater women’s representation, hence the call for quotas. “I don’t believe we have the luxury of time,” she added.

Dr Aodh Quinlivan of UCC said reform of local government was urgently needed. Long of the view that local government had been treated “very badly” in Ireland, he said there was a need for local authorities to be granted powers on education, transport, tourism and policing.

Other speakers included Dr Mary C Murphy and Dr Theresa Reidy of UCC, Prof David Farrell of UCD, Prof Gary Murphy and Dr Eoin O’Malley of DCU, Fine Gael TD David Stanton, Labour TD Ciaran Lynch and Lord Mayor of Cork Dara Murphy. The journal is on http://www.ucc.ie/en/government/GovernmentandPolitics Review/