Irish Examiner view: Influence without consequence

Influence without consequence does nothing for transparency in government, and even less for accountability

Leinster House in Dublin. In 2024, the UK had 128 special advisors with a payroll cost of around €16m. We had 40, costing us in excess of €4m annually. File picture: iStock

One of the concerns about the way democracy is working is not with the people we choose via the ballot box, but with an increasing range of electorally unaccountable “special advisors” that politicians bring into power with them.

Ireland is far from containing the most egregious examples. Think Elon Musk or, a little while ago, of Dominic Cummings, whose visit to a bluebell wood in the north of England during covid restrictions gave the first inkling to voters that there were several tiers of responsibility being applied during a moment of national crisis, and that you were taken for a fool if you believed that “everyone is in this together”.