Political accountability - Climate of fear exists in government

In a political system where dissent in the Dáil is stamped out by a dictatorial government with an overwhelming majority, the media has increasingly become the main opposition.

Whether this is a healthy development was debated yesterday at the Parnell Summer School and on an RTÉ current affairs programme, where former Progressive Democrat justice minster, Michael McDowell, challenged the concept of the media doing the opposition’s job. As he put it: “We have got to the point where the media think they are the main method of accountability, that they hold the political class to account. Of course that is one of the functions of the media in society. But I think there is a lot to be said for making the Dáil much more a method of accountability, much more a place where the executive power of the State really is challenged, where ministers really are hauled over the coals as happens at Westminster.”

Few would disagree with his vision of how the Dáil should be working. It is not the media’s job to be the opposition. Its role is to inform the public, hold governments to account, report on current events, and reveal wrong-doing. Increasingly, it is taking on ministers and raising questions that muzzled backbenchers are afraid to ask.