Democracy report: Public and politicians disillusioned

The Democracy Commission has released the findings of its final report, after two years of research, and revealed that Irish politicians and the voting public are completely disillusioned with the Irish political system.

It also highlighted the fact that there is a public perception of political influence in public bodies. For example, people are dissatisfied with some public bodies because their members are appointed by Government ministers.

The report also raises concerns about the concentration of media ownership in Ireland, and recommends that measures to combat this should be put in place as soon as possible.

Other recommendations included appointing an independent electoral commission, devolving more powers to local government and more political education from primary schools through to adult and community programmes.

Law lecturer Ivana Bacik, who was involved in the research, says the disenchantment will be hard to address and that it is young people and people from disadvantaged areas that are most disengaged from the political system.

She added that a number of politicians felt that there was a huge distrust of them from the public that was undeserved, and that many are “understandably frustrated” with the current system.