Enda should remember the Dáil is also just a house of cards

LET’S abolish the Dáil.

That’s not a smart-ass statement, nor a flippant, throwaway line. It’s a logical conclusion of the campaign being run by Fine Gael to abolish the Seanad.

The campaign is based on the premise that we have too many politicians, who cost too much money to wield next or no power. You might say that senior, well-padded politicians, running a campaign to get rid of politicians because they cost too much, is a bit rich. You might think that senior government figures, pandering to populist notions about useless politicians, is an irony-free zone. But let’s just be extremely charitable and accept that Enda Kenny, and those around him, are motivated by democratic ideals rather than cynicism. Ok, that’s a tough one, but grin and bear it for a few paragraphs.

Last week, launching his party’s campaign for a ‘yes’ vote in the forthcoming referendum to abolish the Seanad, Kenny said that there was no need for a “powerless, elitist” House.

What’s sauce for the senators is also for the TDs. The Lower House is powerless. The executive decides on how the country is governed and uses the Dáil as voting fodder. There is some lip service paid to debate in the House, which consists of watery speeches devoid of oratorical skill, and then everybody votes according to how they’ve been instructed.

Enda Kenny held up a copy of the Constitution, when he referenced the function of the Dáil at the party’s campaign launch.

“The people will also understand that the Seanad is not an imperative to hold onto, because the people’s book points out, clearly, the Dáil is the body to hold the executive to account.”

To be fair to those who attended, everybody kept a straight face when he delivered that line. The Dáil does as it is told through the majority enjoyed by the Government.

And that, apart from supplying voting fodder, is the extent of its democratic function, whatever the “people’s book” might say.

Where was the Dáil when Bertie Ahern’s executive was running the country into the ground? Kenny has suggested that the Seanad did nothing to put the brakes on the excesses of the executive in that time. What’s true for the upper house is doubly so for the lower house, and all who sailed in it, including the then leader of the opposition, one Enda Kenny.

What do the TDs outside the executive do all day? Some just bide their time, before ascending to the front bench or government. Others concentrate on their sole function in politics, which is the business of getting re-elected. One popular exercise, in this regard, is to ask questions, again and again, and again.

Last year, 56,000 parliamentary questions were processed, most of them concerned with constituency matters. Benchmarked against 18 other national parliaments, this was far and away the most inquisitive House, apart from the UK’s, which caters for a population ten times the size of the Republic’s. Processing these questions takes up huge resources that might be better spent running the country.

Then, we have the cost of keeping the Dáil in the style to which it is accustomed. Last year, the cost of the Houses of the Oireachtas was €105.5m. Exact figures are difficult to discern, but let’s say one tenth of that amount accrued from the Seanad. That means that more than €90m could be saved if we did away with the Dáil, in its current form, along with the committees. A lot of hospitals and schools could be built and maintained with that.

So, if the objective of abolishing the Seanad is to save money and make redundant a useless democratic forum, let’s go the whole hog and do away with the Dáil, as well.

Democracy, as we know it in this country, wouldn’t suffer a whit. TDs would still be elected, although we could hold a referendum to greatly reduce the number required.

If the people are to be asked about doing away with senators, why shouldn’t they have a say on whether we need a disproportionate number of TDs?

If the Dáil was abolished, TDs could be based in their constituencies, rather than forced to traipse to Leinster House for three days a week. This would also cut carriages on the gravy train that is travelling expenses.

Once a month or so, a room could be hired out in a three-star hotel, where the elected assembly could meet, and vote through the executive’s latest diktats. Once the Dáil is gone, the location of these gatherings can be a movable feast. Dublin one month, Cork the next, and then Galway, Limerick and Waterford.

Novel sittings could take place in notable urban settings, like, for example, the winning entry in the Tidy Towns competition, or the home base of an independent who has offered to vote for the Government.

It might even be feasible to have an open-top bus parade of the politicians through these towns, before they gather and fulfil their de facto function as nodding donkeys.

Those with something to say about forthcoming legislation could make written submissions to the relevant department. Some of the more voluble TDs may want to make a speech about legislation and, in the name of tolerance, this should be facilitated, even if it leads to the assembly sitting through the night. However, under no circumstances should bar extensions be granted to the host hotels.

Such a portrayal of our elected representatives may not be flattering, but it is in-keeping with the spirit of the campaign being run by Fine Gael. Vote for tolerating fewer useless politicians to save money.

If we were to abolish the Dail, the resultant body politic would be no less democratic. Take, for instance, two developments last week.

On Thursday, the Government published proposals for new reforms in the Dáil. The move was timed to boost the campaign for a ‘yes’ vote.

Some of these proposals, we were told, are contingent on the electorate agreeing to abolish the Seanad. In order words, unless you, the people, pass a referendum that is greatly tied up with the credibility of Enda Kenny, we won’t agree to do business, on your behalf, in an efficient manner. This is the type of scenario that is common in sham democracies in some corners of the developing world.

Earlier in the week, Michael Martin challenged Enda Kenny to debate the referendum issue. This referendum is Kenny’s baby.

It originated as a political stunt when he was in opposition and suffering in opinion polls.

Losing the vote would impact on his credibility.

Yet, he has so little confidence in his arguments on the issue, that he won’t even debate it publicly with a former minister of a discredited government.

Would such a position be tolerated in any functioning democracy this side of a tin-pot dictatorship? So, if we’re going to abolish the Seanad, let’s be honest about it and get rid of the Dáil, too. It’s no more ridiculous than the premise on which Fine Gael is running its campaign.