IT’S NO WAY TO RUN A COUNTRY
‘Do-nothing Dáil’ passes 14 Bills all year TDs then rush through 11 laws in just one week Now they’re off for a ten-week holiday!
THE Dáil rose for almost ten weeks of holidays yesterday after a final brief flurry of activity – following six months in which very little new legislation had been passed.
The lower house rushed through 11 Bills this week – having only managed a paltry 14 between the start of the year and last week.
The dearth of new legislation had earned the lower chamber the nickname of the ‘do-nothing Dáil’.
It had been widely expected that key legislation such as the abolition of water charges would have been published and debated by now, while there has been criticism at the lack of legislative action to tackle the housing crisis. There has been a delay to this legislation as well.
However, last night Fine Gael TDs insisted the late surge indicated that the rate of activity was ramping up
under new Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.
Opposition TDs complained, however, that large chunks are being taken out of some Bills before they are being passed through the Oireachtas.
Speaking about a social welfare pensions Bill in particular, Independent TD Clare Daly said last night: ‘When this Bill was provided to me last week and we were asked to facilitate it passing all stages prior to the recess in order to protect workers’ defined benefit pension schemes, I thought I was on another planet and that this was something on which we could wholeheartedly and enthusiastically support the Government.
‘Then, of course, I woke up and all of the good and welcome provisions in the Bill were gone. It has not left a good taste.’
However, Fine Gael TD Noel Rock told the Irish Daily Mail last night that the acceleration in pace represented a change in how Dáil business was being conducted under the new administration.
He said: ‘This week the socalled do-nothing Dáil became a do-loads Dáil, as we passed 11 new pieces of legislation including the Mental Health Bill. This is the realisation of a month of hard work from this new Government and proves we can do the heavy lifting of legislation while also doing everything we can to prevent the worst fallout from Brexit.
‘Under our new Taoiseach, there has been a clear effort to deliver legislatively and deliver real changes for people and communities.’
And Chief Whip Joe McHugh said: ‘By the end of July I expect that up to 44 Acts will have been passed by the Dáil and Seanad since this second consecutive Fine Gael-led Government took office just over 14 months ago.’
TDs will not now return to the Dáil until Wednesday, September 20 – giving them a 68day summer holiday. This represents a cut in the length of break taken in comparison to the previous year, when they got almost 12 weeks off.
The longer holidays last year were attributed to renovations taking place across the Leinster House complex.
After winning the 2011 General Election, the Fine Gael Labour coalition had promised more Dáil sittings and fewer holidays. It pledged ‘radical reform of the way the Dáil operates’.
This year’s near ten-week summer holiday comes after strong criticism from Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin about the pace of legislation getting through the house.
Earlier this week, he said he was concerned about the output, adding: ‘I am not just talking in terms of publishing Bills but finishing and completing Bills.’
However, the Taoiseach said the fact that the Government does not have a majority has hampered the number of Bills it can get through the Oireachtas. ‘Obviously, if the Government had a majority it could get far more legislation through,’ said Mr Varadkar.
The Taoiseach met junior ministers this week to ask what they felt their key legislative priorities should be. Sources say he wants to quickly advance certain legislation upon the return of the Dáil and before the Budget.
THIS week, before departing for the summer recess, a well-worn euphemism for a ten-week holiday that stretches well into autumn, the Dáil passed 11 Bills, only two fewer than it had managed in the year to date.
The sudden flurry of activity before the break did not pass unnoticed. This is a not unfamiliar pattern and gives governments something to point to when anyone criticises the generosity of their time off.
In fact, while this might make it seem like the Dáil is not entirely dysfunctional, it nevertheless shows it up as at least highly inefficient.
How is it that, with 14 Bills passed since the new year dawned, the Dáil suddenly can go from passing one Bill a fortnight to two a day?
It raises all sorts of questions about how Bills are processed and timetabled, and indeed about the very wisdom of the legislature taking such a long summer hiatus.
There is the feel about it of the schoolboy getting around to doing his homework over breakfast at 8am, and that raises further questions about whether adequate scrutiny of Bills has been conducted.
We need only look back at the steamrollered Irish Water legislation to see the peril inherent in a rushed job.
While the legislation finalised this week was not guillotined, and had the support of Fianna Fáil, there nonetheless might be hidden away within it some ticking time bomb that could have been ironed out in advance.
There is no successful business in the world that could take such a leisurely approach to its operations for the first six months of the year, then put in a sudden burst of hard work before closing down for two months – nor indeed, are there many where the hours are so needlessly unconducive to family life, or that have an on-site bar employees can visit at any time during their working day.
For all of these reasons, it is long overdue that we take a serious look at just how a national parliament should be run.
Many of our Dáil traditions date back to the foundation of the State, and a world very different to the one we inhabit today.
Commuting times for rural TDs have been at least halved, for starters, and there is much more work that can be managed electronically without the Dáil having to sit long into the night.
As things stand, the hours make it harder for women to actively participate in our democracy, and that is something we need to address.
Certainly, no emerging nation looking for an example on which to model its own parliament surely would look twice at ours.
The Dáil badly needs updating. We hope a new Taoiseach with fresh policies will take on this challenge, and start by curtailing the ‘summer’ recess.