Dáil reform - Welcome step in right direction

After a long balmy summer on the beach, TDs finally got back to the business of running the country yesterday and in case they had forgotten what it’s all about they were greeted by the familiar voices of protest against austerity on the streets outside Dáil Éireann. Nothing had changed.

And yet, amid the lingering aroma of sunblock cream, a faint but refreshing whiff of democracy wafted through the Dáil, a parliament increasingly coming under the rigid control of a Government with little time for freedom of speech on the floor of the House. And even less tolerance of criticism.

Strangled by a whip system badly in need of reform, backbenchers receive little if any scope to air matters of public concern. Thus the prospect of the 14 unaligned rebels of Fine Gael and Labour getting a word in edgeways seemed very remote. But, thanks to Ceann Comhairle Seán Barrett, they will in future be given speaking rights in the Dáil.