Does Dáil Éireann do a good job for the Irish people?
YES:
Representational politics often demands compromise. The art of representation - for that is what it is, an art - is best practised within a parliamentary party because democracy respects numerical strength. The proposition that a TD must defy the party whip to establish his/her independence ignores the role TDs play within their parties, and the role those parties play in the decision making process.
A maverick stand, alone in the voting lobbies, preceded by an intellectual or theatrical exhibition, may feed the printing presses but in the words of the English economist and essayist Walter Bagehot, "If the country should ever look on the proceedings of Parliament as an intellectual and theatrical exhibition, no merit in our laws, no excellence in our national character, could save our institutions from very serious danger". So, yes, one way or another vox populi is heard in Ireland and Dáil Éireann does a good job for the Irish people. Nonetheless politics and the parliamentary process should evolve. Accordingly the next question is unavoidable in any honest analysis: Could Dáil Éireann do a better job for the Irish people? The answer is also in the affirmative.
First, consider the basic structure of our parliament. The notion that there should be one large chamber containing 166 representatives of the people, debating and making decisions about the big issues of the day, was a good idea over 200 years ago. The question is whether it is a good idea today. Do we really need so many 30 and 40 minute speeches to be delivered on the general principles of a Bill? Or would politicians' time be better spent on studying the details of legislation, listening to the views of those outside the House and having an input when legislation is being considered line by line at Committee Stage? Is it fair to complain that when these speeches are being made, many TDs are outside the chamber?
The press and commentators regularly make a point of noting that, like themselves, most TDs are not in the Dáil chamber when these speeches are being delivered. But should they really sit there listening to these speeches? Or should they read the ones they see as relevant at a later stage and use their time for some other purpose? In summary, are there changes we could make to our procedures that would make the work of the Oireachtas more understandable and more open to media coverage, without compromising its seriousness? Every political party makes the right noises about Dáil and Oireachtas reform from time to time, saying that they are, of course, in favour of it.
As Ceann Comhairle I am of course interested in these issues. From the Ceann Comhairle's chair, I see aspects of Dáil procedure which could be improved or changed. I am not the only one. In recent months the whips from the main parties have had a number of meetings to examine whether there are changes to procedure that should be considered. I am very pleased to have been able to use the Office of Ceann Comhairle to encourage these discussions on Dáil reform, although it is up to the parties to announce any agreement they reach on change.
If politicians complain that their work is not being taken seriously, or that they are not being given enough credit for what they do, they need to examine their own procedures and I am glad to see they are doing that. Parliamentary politics is a long process. Legislation is changed slowly and through complex parliamentary procedures that do not easily provide the stories required by daily journalists. A news story tends to be attractive to a news editor if it says: "something changed yesterday".
The reality of legislation and political progress is that one can rarely say "something changed yesterday" - the parliamentary process does not often fit the daily news cycle. A classic example is the annual consideration of the Finance Bill, debated, discussed and amended at extraordinary length at the Finance Committee in what is one of the most important pieces of parliamentary business of the year. This Committee Stage debate receives scant press coverage because its content, while very important, is not easily packaged into simple news stories.
And in the absence of such stories about parliamentary business, political coverage in some newspapers can concentrate on the trivial, whether it is a political soundbite that sounds clever but may not mean much, to whether Enda landed a verbal punch on Bertie or whether Bertie landed one on Enda, or even whether the Ceann Comhairle raised his voice.
The challenge for politicians is to find ways to present what we do in a way that the media will find easy to report, without compromising its seriousness. And we should always remember that whilst what is said in Parliament and even how it is said can at times be important, the right to say it is always important.
John O'Donoghue TD is Ceann Comhairle of Dail Eireann and is also a Fianna Fail TD for Kerry South
