The Dáil's centenary: A great event worthy of celebration

Today marks the centenary of the first sitting of Dáil Éireann.

The main celebration will take place in Dublin’s Mansion House where that first 1919 meeting was convened.

Despite our great challenges, that celebration is entirely justified.

Unlike many post-colonial societies — or even well-established ones — we have not imploded or succumbed to gross corruption, permanent, unresolved, violent tribalism or the kind of despotism that drains so many nascent democracies of hope.

Despite unacceptable failures — housing and environmental destruction are the primary ones — our democracy has far more to celebrate than it has to hide.

There was though half a century of very difficult teething problems, a sadness reflected by incessant emigration, gnawing material poverty and stultifying poverty of ambition.

That those who attended the Mansion House 100 years ago had to establish a republic in a theocracy exacerbated those difficulties.

However, recent referenda showed that transition continues. Our membership of the EU has made an immeasurable contribution to that modernisation.

It is easy to criticise our parliament but, whether we like it or not, it is an accurate reflection of all our venialities, weaknesses, ambiguities and determined self-interest. We, despite expectations loudly suggesting otherwise, get the politicians we deserve.

Today’s celebrations reconfirm the cyclical nature of human adventures. The forces that held those 1919 ambitions in contempt still show a profound ignorance on Irish affairs. The then lord lieutenant, John French dismissed the first Dáil as a “ludicrous farce”.

That may not be as unhinged as a Tory suggestion that our food supplies be curtailed until we concede on the Brexit backstop but it has the same lineage.

There is precedent too for the absence of planning destroying British democracy.

In 1919, just months after WWI ended, Winston Churchill suggested there was no Irish problem. “There was no place in the world where there was less danger,” was his misjudgment.

That lack of preparation unnecessarily perpetuated violence.

That failure echoes today.

Nevertheless, it is a gift of freedom that we can transcend history and build relationships based on respect — a process that, before the Brexit acid attack, was advancing positively.

When we were last asked — a 2011 referendum on Oireachtas inquiries — we showed we do not trust our parliament as we might.

The failure of the banking inquiry means Government may reopen that question.

On Monday, President Michael D. Higgins will deliver a keynote address to mark the centenary of the first sitting of Dáil Éireann.

Find out more: https://t.co/rAR7g5JOOy pic.twitter.com/1KcHf1lDfW

— President of Ireland (@PresidentIRL) January 20, 2019

Reform, and Jim Breslin, secretary general of the Department of Health, have declared themselves unavailable.

This shows that though the Dáil will rightly face criticism over runaway costs, parliamentarians may not have to powers we imagine to confront these issues.

In a world where parliamentary democracy is ever more challenged, closing this loophole would be a wonderful way to celebrate the Dáil’s centenary as enhanced relevance would make bicentenary celebrations all the more likely.