Kenny speaks about political reform

Aard

From RTE:

Friday, 24 July 2009 10:50

The Fine Gael leader has said he is in favour of major political reform, including cutting the number of deputies in the Dáil. Enda Kenny told the MacGill Summer School in Co Donegal last night that change in the political system is necessary in order to achieve long-term economic improvement. He said he would support a reduction of between 10 and 20 TDs, but added that the number could potentially be reduced by 24 - from 166 TDs to 142 - without any constitutional change. Mr Kenny also said he was confident of winning the next General Election, and he indicated that he would appoint a transition team to plan a new programme for Ireland's recovery.

From Wikipedia:

Under the Constitution of Ireland there must never be fewer than one TD for every thirty thousand of the population, nor more than one for every twenty thousand. In the 29th Dáil there was one TD for every 21,000 citizens, one of the most generous such ratios anywhere in the world. With the adoption of the current constitution in 1937 the membership of the Dáil was reduced from 153 to 138, but in the 1960s the number was increased, only to be increased more substantially in 1981 to the current figure of 166.

I would welcome such a reform, and would support having the bare minimum of 142 TDs.

What are your opinions on this, and what other reforms would you suggest?

JonathanAnon

ah, this is just hot air. if he had any balls he would say that they should get rid of the Senate. As I said in a previous post, the Senate take up one fifth of the total cost of government buildings. Colm Mccarthy said last week that reducing the numbers of TDs will not significantly reduce the cost of running government buildings. The only thing that would do this is to get rid of the Senate.

Two things that NO TD will have the balls to do this summer:

1. Agree with McCarthy about the (justified) reduction in social welfare payments.

2. Call for the Senate to be closed.

Sand

The problem with Fine Gael is that they are not radically different from Fianna Fail - they dont offer an alternative, and worse, barring an electoral earthquake, they will need Labour support to form a government. Labour is an electoral anchor around their necks. Anyone whose seen Joan Burton in action ( all talk, no clue) would be less than happy about the prospects of her being in office.

Regardless of that, Fine Gael deserve a chance to show themselves to be every bit as a bad as Fianna Fail. While there is corruption, and the potential for corruption, within FG it is not as developed or as obvious as exists in Fianna Fail. They really will need to reach within themselves to be worse. So, whilst I am unsurprised that FG are not being radical enough on this issue ( getting rid of the useless Seanad - which has almost no support, the jeers and abuse the Seanad members received on the Late Late show a few months back is evidence of that) at least they are talking openly about it, and its the leader flying the kite, not some backbencher taking one for the team.

A reduction in TDs is badly needed - they dont do enough, for far too much, and their focus is far too local and not national enough. We need a clear division between county councillors (local issues) and TDs (national and international issues). Currently we dont have that.

turgon

We need 166 TD's to have a big enough pool within which to find talent.

Taxipete29

Sand wrote: »

A reduction in TDs is badly needed - they dont do enough, for far too much, and their focus is far too local and not national enough. We need a clear division between county councillors (local issues) and TDs (national and international issues). Currently we dont have that.

Councillors have no real power and people know this. The reason TDs get bogged down with local issues is becasue thats what people care about. At the end of the day in this country its all about "what have you done for me?".