Kenny accused of destroying political accountability
Labour’s Joanna Tuffy said Enda Kenny was “anti-politics” and “anti-democratic” with his “populist nonsense” that Ireland has too many politicians. She also said he was being “flippant” in his attempt to abolish the Seanad in a referendum to be held in October.
“Power is not just being moved to the centre, to the executive under this Government’s so-called reforms,” she said. “It is also being put further into the hands of unelected advisers and spin doctors, many of whom earn twice the salaries of senators with no accountability whatsoever.”
Ms Tuffy said the Taoiseach, who travels to Vienna today while the Dáil discusses controversial abortion legislation, was “caught up in a presidential style of leadership which is destroying our parliament in terms of accountability and which the media laps up”.
She said the Taoiseach had made no in-depth analysis on his assertion that the Seanad did not work. “He doesn’t appear to have any grasp of the purpose of the Seanad in our democracy.”
The Government’s record in reforming the Dáil also came under criticism from the chairman of the Fine Gael parliamentary party, Charlie Flanagan.
Since being elected to office, the Coalition had guillotined 118 motions, he said, including 50 in its first nine months and 52 throughout last year.
“As we head towards the end of this season, the rush to enact legislation under a guillotine motion will be all the more remarkable.”
He said the Taoiseach and ministers chose to make major policy announcements on television set-pieces, rather than in the Dáil which people found “boring, because it’s too stage-managed”.
He also said ministers had only shown up for 250 out of the 650 questions raised under the new “topical issues” time in the Dáil.
