Democratically deficient

Elected representatives are not properly scrutinising the majority of new laws, leaving power in the hands of a small elite, writes Mark Daly

THE scale of the nation’s fiscal problems is well known and the financial deficit is discussed daily. Yet the scale of the growing national democratic deficit is not debated to the same extent or with the same sense of urgency. This is in spite of the fact that the weakness of our legislative process has largely contributed to the current fiscal situation.

Our democratic and legislative systems as they are presently designed are failing. We know they failed in the run-up to the financial crisis but, unlike the financial regulatory system, our democratic structures are not going through the same radical transformation. And if they do not go through significant reform they will continue to fail citizens.