Elect the Taoiseach

Dubs

From what I understand at the moment is that we elect the president, who even though has some power is really more of a figure head, who in turn, usually going along with governments advice, chooses the Taoiseach, the real leader of the country who makes all the key decisions.

What im asking is do you think that we, the public, should vote for the Taoiseach, or is the current system just fine the way it is?

Zombienosh

Vote pedro

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Why is there no tortellini option?

anniehoo

Im voting for spaghetti. We already have a bunch of rigid fukkers who go limp in hot water so whats the difference :rolleyes:

The_Kew_Tour

Silivo Berlusconi ftw

Lando Griffin

Roy Keane when he lets everyone down he does the right thing and runs away.

dvpower

Dubs wrote: »

From what I understand at the moment is that we elect the president, who even though has some power is really more of a figure head, who in turn, usually going along with governments advice, chooses the Taoiseach, the real leader of the country who makes all the key decisions.

What im asking is do you think that we, the public, should vote for the Taoiseach, or is the current system just fine the way it is?

In the current system, the cabinet makes the key decisions, not the Taoiseach.

dezzyd

We did send dustin the turkey to eurovision so why not try michael flatley to rule country.... "a nation once again"

Killer Pigeon

Well what I think should be done is that the institutions of the state should be completely changed. Our state institutions should mirror slightly the American government institutions.

1) There should be a stronger Executive which should be elected every four years. This executive should be called the President or "An Taoiseach" (etymologically the word "Taoiseach" was a reference to a leader and not a prime-minister). The President of Ireland or "Uachtarán/ Taoiseach na hÉireann, should have approximately the same power as the Presidents of France or America do in their countries. Ministers would report to the Taoiseach. Each minister would, as now, represent a given sector of society but the Minister should have expertise in that given sector. For example, the Minister for Health should have been a medical professional before entering politics, the Minister for Finance should be an economist, accountant or should have experience in the finance industry, the Minister for Justice should have been a lawyer, etc..

2) The parliament or Dáil Éireann should be broken up into an upper house and a lower house. The representatives of the lower house or "Teach na dTeachtaí" should be elected as the Dáil is today. The leader of "Teach na dTeachtaí" will not be a prime-minister nor have the same national power as them but be the speaker or chairman of the house and should report to "An Taoiseach" on a regular bases. There should also remain in place a multiparty system and the decision on who will become a nominee for the position of "Taoiseach" will be based on the popularity of each party amongst the people. "Teach na dTeachtaí" should initiate spending bills and should have exclusive authority to impeach officials and choose "An Taoiseach" if there is an electoral deadlock. Representatives or "Teachtaí" of "Teach na dTeachtaí" or just "Teachtaí an tí" (TT or just Teachta) will represent their own electoral district. The amount of electoral districts in each county will be based on the population of each county. For example, Dublin would have 5 but Mayo would have 2 and so on.

3) Then there will be "Seanad Éireann". The "Seanad" should have a mainly vocationalist policy for membership. For example, there should be a set of senators representing the health industry, another the sports industry and so on. The amount of Senators per industry will be based on the national priority of each industry. For example the health industry would have 5/6 Senators but the Sports industry would only have one. Each senator must be proven experts on the respective industry they wish to represent. When it comes to membership be the final decision on who should be a Senator or "Seanadór" will be left utimately to the people. Elections for Senadors will be held every 2-3 years and not be held on the same year of a General Election for logistical purposes. It should be the right of all citizens to vote in the Seanad elections. The decision on how many senators would represent a given industry will also be made by the people and executive every 2-3 years where the ratio of influency will be 1:3 (1 for the executive and 3 for the public. The Seanad will not have as much power as "Teach na dTeachtaí" but will have the power to fine tune bills, debate bills based on national priority and have the power to make bills and send them to the lower house for debate.

NoHornJan

Does anyone think that in a few more years we will no longer have a taoiseach or a president and that we will have a governer or some such officer like the system thy have in the USA and that Europe will become The United States of Europe.

Killer Pigeon

NoHornJan wrote: »

Does anyone think that in a few more years we will no longer have a taoiseach or a president and that we will have a governer or some such officer like the system thy have in the USA and that Europe will become The United States of Europe.

Well hopefully not.

epgc3fyqirnbsx

NoHornJan wrote: »

Does anyone think that in a few more years we will no longer have a taoiseach or a president and that we will have a governer or some such officer like the system thy have in the USA and that Europe will become The United States of Europe.

No, I really dont. There's too much culture and pride. The Eu is still only trying to find a balance, and will be doing so for many more years and probably another few booms and recessions until it works pretty well. But it will, that's progress imo

KingLoser

trapattoooooooooooni!

Sulmac

Israel tried doing this for a few years.

It didn't work out well.

Genrikh Yagoda

Imagine Edna Kenny as prime minster hahahaha

I like Brian Cohen

NoHornJan

If (Europe) had kept a rein on our present and previous Taoisigh along with the heads of Greece Spain etc. we might'nt be in the mess we are in now. What are we paying all our elected representatives in Brussels for? I thought it was so that we could keep an eye on each other.

Dave!

The current system is fine

derfderf

NoHornJan wrote: »

Does anyone think that in a few more years we will no longer have a taoiseach or a president and that we will have a governer or some such officer like the system thy have in the USA and that Europe will become The United States of Europe.

*crosses fingers*

Trashbat

Killer Pigeon wrote: »

the Minister should have expertise in that given sector.....................................................................the Minister for Justice should have been a lawyer, etc..

What in the hell do Lawyer, solicitors, Barristers or even Judges know about justice?

Cookie_Monster

I had to go with the spagetti option but the voting for taoiseach is an interesting idea.

Killer Pigeon

Trashbat wrote: »

What in the hell do Lawyer, solicitors, Barristers or even Judges know about justice?

The full name of the the Department is the Department of Justice and Law Reform, this is their mission statement from their website:

Our collective mission is to help make Ireland a safer and fairer place in which to live and work, visit and do business. The remit of the Justice family of agencies and services stretches across a range of human concerns and touches on aspects of national life as diverse as the protection of life and property; the prevention and detection of crime; the provision of services for the buying and selling of property; the management of inward migration to the State and providing a Courts Service and other forms of investigative tribunals. On the international front, the Minister and the Department serve the interests of Ireland in relation to Justice and Home Affairs’ matters by participating fully in the European Union, the Council of Europe and the United Nations among other international fora.

Someone with a legal background would be ideal because they would most likely have experience in the areas that the department runs. And besides, most of the ministers of justice over the past 10 years were former lawyers anyway so this wouldn't be such a change.

Celly Smunt

Genrikh Yagoda wrote: »

Imagine Edna Kenny as prime minster hahahaha

I like Brian Cohen

who's Brian Cohen?

PeterIanStaker

Trashbat wrote: »

What in the hell do Lawyer, solicitors, Barristers or even Judges know about justice?

Given the way they let some sex offenders off with what amounts to a slap on the wrist, very little.

Killer Pigeon

pmcmahon wrote: »

who's Brian Cohen?

It's the Taoiseach's cousin.

Liam Byrne

Killer Pigeon wrote: »

It's the Taoiseach's cousin.

Doesn't he try to do comedy, too ?

As for electing the Taoiseach, well....we're allowed to elect the party that runs the country too, and look where that got us!

Killer Pigeon

Liam Byrne wrote: »

Doesn't he try to do comedy, too ?

As for electing the Taoiseach, well....we're allowed to elect the party that runs the country too, and look where that got us!

The thing is the country didn't really vote for Brian Cowen to be Taoiseach and also the FF party didn't have a majority support of the people anyway, it was around 41.6% of the electorate. I think we should nearly go all the way and have a bipartisan system, with one of the parties being liberal and the other party being conservative.

Banned Account

pmcmahon wrote: »

who's Brian Cohen?

He's our new, even more miserable leader who takes to singing dark and morose songs about death and desertion

"Anglo takes me down, down to the river ... "

I think we should elect on the basis of a reality TV show.