Paul Hosford: Rushed legislation amid paltry scrutiny could leave us all at sea
The Convention Centre, Dublin, host of reduced sittings of the Dail. Allowing a handful of TDs into a 2,000 seater auditorium in the name of viral safety when the top deck of the room, reserved for the media, may as well be in Carlow for its closeness to the action, is ludicrous, says Paul Hosford. Photo: Sam Boal / RollingNews.ie
If you are working from home during this pandemic, there will be something of a tacit acknowledgement that you are working below your regular level of productivity.
Not anything major, but many jobs have instituted no-meeting Fridays and there is acceptance that Zooms and emails and being out of the office are no match for the water cooler and in-person chats.
In the Houses of the Oireachtas, that acceptance may have gone a little too far.
On Thursday, Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Fine Gael's Peter Burke sought approval for the Marine Planning Framework.
First proposed in 2017, the framework proposes "a new way of looking at how we use the marine area and planning how best to use it into the future". It underwent the longest public consultation in the history of the State.
Given that we are an island nation, with seven times more marine area than land, you would think that the use of the marine area around us would be a fairly important thing to debate in our national parliament.
It was given 45 minutes in the DĂĄil on Thursday. And, boy, was the Opposition unhappy.
First up, Sinn FĂ©in's Eoin Ă Broin, who said that the plan itself had merit and that he didn't want to cause any controversy about its passage before calling the structure of the debate on it a disgrace.
"The idea that something of this importance, equivalent to law in its impact, would only receive a two-hour committee presentation from officials from the Department and a 45-minute debate on this floor with five minutes per party and grouping is, I have to say, a real disgrace."
Labour's Duncan Smith, a member of the DĂĄil Business Committee, concurred, saying that it was "absolutely shameful" that each speaking group be given just five minutes to speak on the topic, while the Social Democrats' Cian O'Callaghan, another member of the Business Committee, said that the "lack of scrutiny was absolutely shameful".
People Before Profit's BrĂd Smith questioned how a 600-page document could be debated in less than an hour. Independent TD for Wexford Verona Murphy said that the concentration of debate time had led to "no shortage of shoddy, poorly thought-out legislation passed through this House in the past 14 months".
While there were a number of issues raised with the framework itself - Richard Boyd Barrett said that private companies had been given "the right to grab whatever sites they want offshore, including environmentally sensitive sites such as the Kish Bank, the Codling Bank" - Mr Smith hit on the real issue at play.
"We have been operating for months on a reduced schedule. We have had reduced time in the DĂĄil, in committees and in the Seanad due to the Covid-19 crisis. That is now having an impact on how we are able to scrutinise important legislation. We are at a crucial point as parliamentarians regarding how we organise our business and how we scrutinise what needs to come through the Oireachtas."
For all of 2021, the DĂĄil has sat for two days a week for a combined around 24 hours, leading to a grand total of 26 sitting days since the turn of the year. In that time, there have been 26 Leaders' Questions, questions and answers from ministers, questions on promised legislation and 62 pieces of legislation considered by the Oireachtas.
In the Oireachtas Housing Committee two weeks ago, Minister Darragh O'Brien appeared to give an update on the implementation of the Programme For Government vis a vis housing delivery. But because the committee met in private session for the first 30 minutes and questions from members went over time, at the end of the session, six members were unable to ask questions when the two-hour time limit - a rule introduced last year around Leinster House despite the CMO saying he was unaware of any medical advice to back it up - passed at 8.30pm on a Wednesday.
The last DĂĄil, they said, was a "do-nothing" DĂĄil. The general sense of fatigue around the minority government fed into a narrative that nothing was being progressed in the chamber. Of course, that is somewhat unfair to the members of the 32nd DĂĄil who passed numerous important pieces of legislation and oversaw a landmark referendum on abortion.
But there is a sense that this DĂĄil is trying to counterbalance that notion by doing too much in too little time.
For people who don't work within a certain square kilometre of Dublin 2, the sight of DĂĄil debates, or committees questioning witnesses in those familiar amphitheatres in the LH2000 side of the complex, may induce the type of eye-glazing reserved for discussions about paint drying or expected goals.Â
But these debates are crucial. At a bare minimum, they provide the Opposition a chance to fulfil its role in parliament - scrutineer and counterbalance.
By speeding through these sessions and truncating scrutiny, the Government does itself and us a disservice. Either do less and do it better, or add hours to the sitting week.
The Ceann Comhairle Sean O Fearghail told the DĂĄil on Thursday that a move back to a three-day sitting week will be made "as soon as it is feasible", but the DĂĄil is currently in a âŹ25,000-per-day cavern.Â
The Convention Centre in Dublin is, for those who have never been inside its Coke-can-on-its-side glass interior, absolutely massive. Allowing a handful of TDs into a 2,000-seater auditorium in the name of viral safety when the top deck of the room, reserved for the media, may as well be in Carlow for its closeness to the action, is ludicrous.
Rushing through legislation in this manner can only leave us out at sea.
May 6: The Cork Examiner reported that the new Chief Secretary to Ireland, Lord Frederick Cavendish and his permanent Under Secretary Thomas Henry Burke, were âfoully murderedâ in Dublin. Their deaths would later be referred to as the Phoenix Park murders, which were carried out by the âIrish Invinciblesâ, a team of Irish Republican Brotherhood assassins. Charles Parnell, the Irish political leader, publicly condemned the killings.
May 5: John McBride was executed for his part in the Easter Rising. Facing the British firing squad, McBride said he did not wish to be blindfolded, adding "I have looked down the muzzles of too many guns in the South African war to fear death and now please carry out your sentence." McBride was the husband of Maude Gonne, muse of WB Yeats.
May 4: Margaret Thatcher was invited to form a government by Queen Elizabeth and became British Prime Minister, the first woman ever to hold that high office. On the steps of Downing Street, she said, paraphrasing the Prayer of Saint Francis: âWhere there is discord, may we bring harmony; Where there is error, may we bring truth; Where there is doubt, may we bring faith; And where there is despair, may we bring hope.â
May 5: Violent scenes erupted on the streets of Athens, Greece as fears mounted the eurozone debt crisis could spread. Three people, including a pregnant woman, died in clashes as riots swept through Athens.
As economists predict that Portugal and Spain will be among the next victims of the contagion from the Greek fiscal disaster, Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan reiterated no additional borrowing will be required by Ireland to fund the supersized âŹ110bn bailout for Greece.
The pedestrian lights outside Leinster House on Kildare Street for many years were the fastest in the country to change. They were especially adapted to literally stop traffic to allow TDs and Senators rush back to the chamber to vote.Â
The pressing of the button would cause the immediate appearance of the green man to allow privileged members to rush across in haste.
The Joint Committee on Education will discuss school bullying and the impact of mental health with the Children's Ombudsman and a number of psychotherapists and psychologists. Children and young people have been through an exceptionally difficult year and school closures have cut them off from some of the usual supports available. The Irish Examiner's Growing Up in Lockdown survey recently provided an illuminating insight into how young people are coping.
High on ambition and aspiration, the Governmentâs Climate Action Plan proposes to get Ireland to a carbon-neutral basis by 2050. But farmers have already expressed concern that the targets will unfairly impact them and this will be discussed at the Agriculture Committee.
New Secretary General of the Department of Health Robert Watt is before the Health Committee on Wednesday morning to address the RTĂ Prime Time Investigates programme on the alleged gathering of sensitive information about children who were involved in dormant legal actions against the State. Mr Watt's recent appointment and his âŹ82,000 salary increase has caused controversy but has been defended by Taoiseach MicheĂĄl Martin as "appropriate".
Minister Paschal Donohoe is due before the Finance Committee to discuss the Consumer Credit Amendment Bill. The Bill, brought forward by Sinn FĂ©in, aims to cap the level of interest moneylenders can charge.
The Seanad is due to discuss the EU's digital green certificate, which aims to allow European citizens the freedom to travel to other countries.
The green cert would show if a person been vaccinated against Covid-19, has received a negative test result or has recovered from Covid-19. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has also said that the EU could be ready to roll out the green pass system by June, but the Government is not likely to adopt this travel pass system until at least July.
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