Why is the Dail nearly always empty?

Yag reuoY

Whenever I tune into any proceedings from the house of parliament -- even for Prime Minister's questions, Ireland edition -- the place is deserted!?

What is the attendance record for the average TD like?

efb

Millibands not as fun, oh wait...

Liam Byrne

What is "Prime Minister's questions, Ireland edition" ?

sheesh

Liam Byrne wrote: »

What is "Prime Minister's questions, Ireland edition" ?

ff got rid of it or at least put a time constraint on it.


OP: I think they are watching speeches on TV with their handlers.

mikemac

When I was in college and staying in bed unti afternoon I'd watch Tony Blair and William Hague rip into each other at lunchtime

Both excellent public speakers.
I can't realy think of anyone in the Dáil who can do this

Who is the best public speaker in the Dáil?

SeaFields

feelingstressed wrote: »

Who is the best public speaker in the Dáil?

I have read a few times that Mary Harney is thought of as the most competent speaker In the Dail as she can answer question comprehensively without notes.

If thats the benchmark tho it doesnt say a lot about the lot of em. :rolleyes:

Poly

Brian Hayes questioning "the system" at the min

Lenny Lovett

Basically it's because they have absolutely no respect for us, the people who put them there and who toil to pay their salaries and outrageous and questionable expenses. If they gave a f*** about us they would all be in attendance and working together to come up with a credible and realistic plan to get us out of the sh1t. They'll trot out the usual ould bollox that they're busy with committee meetings or organising for a street light somewhere to be fixed.

DrumSteve

The dail is nearly always empty because that's the best way for it to be... if there is less of them there they can do less damage. actually we should just lock them out.

eden_my_ass

Just tuned in to have a look, Mary Hanafin was rattling away, then the camera zooms out to show what I counted as about 5/6 people visible across the entire floor....what a waste. If theres a good reason for none of those other TD's being there, surely the Dail should be officially suspended and not populated by some few fools talking to the wall!

Nodin

Yag reuoY wrote: »

Whenever I tune into any proceedings from the house of parliament -?

Its called the Dail.

Yag reuoY wrote: »

- even for Prime Minister's questions, Ireland edition --

?

Its Taoiseach. There is only one "edition".

gbee

Firstly, you do know abut the various scandals and exaggerated expense claims and people claiming to be living on the far side of the Moon and so on, don't you?

Well, a little trick with the English Political as you are absolutely correct to say, we never made a political system of your own, but the trick is you clock in and go home .....

You will be phoned to attend only for those voting days. We have some TD who have never spoken in the Dail ~ ironically for same, they are also represented in the 'longest serving' category. So the smart ones, show up, claim expenses, never miss a vote and never say anything.

DiscoStu

Does it really matter though. The whip system negates the need for any actual meaningful debate since just about any vote outcome is a given or predetermined in off the record meetings and negotiations. It looks for the most part that the majority of sitting tds realize it's a waste of time bordering on an expensed farce and don't bother participate.

gbee

DiscoStu wrote: »

Does it really matter though. The whip system negates the need for any actual meaningful debate since just about any vote outcome is a given or predetermined in off the record meetings and negotiations. It looks for the most part that the majority of sitting tds realize it's a waste of time bordering on an expensed farce and don't bother participate.

So we should tear it down. This is not a democracy and never was. Two myths of Irish politics, Democracy and Low TAX Economy.

DiscoStu

gbee wrote: »

So we should tear it down. This is not a democracy and never was. Two myths of Irish politics, Democracy and Low TAX Economy.

What the issue here is the perception most people seem to have of the proceedings inside the dail. The classical Romanesque view of great orators giving stirring speeches to the thronged assembly might be nice but its quite far removed from the procedural realities of exercising your electoral mandate. At its most basic think tanks and special advisers write bills, sorry "advise" on the content of said bills, the whip beats the ignorant pub owning paddies into line to vote(reading or understanding the bill is optional) and pr sugar coats the rubbish and then rte rewrites the press release.

there are far better reasons why western representative democracy is broken rather than a lack of pomp from the main chamber of government.

gbee

DiscoStu wrote: »

there are far better reasons why western representative democracy is broken rather than a lack of pomp from the main chamber of government.

I enjoyed your post.

BOHtox

When I was working in the Dail, all the tds would be in Leinster House just not in the chamber. They have tvs in their offices and when not in the Dail, they would be doing office work. There are cameras in the Dail, senate and committe rooms so all tds can see what's going on from their offices.

Floppybits

Well I see that the FG Brian Hayes has called the Dail a "doss house" for the last 10 years and the FG attack Dog Leo has called for bankers responsible for the reckless lending to be jailed and compared them to dissident republicans.

Now to me on Hayes is correct. As for Leo well he should have called on the Minister for justice to explain what legislation is going to be brought forward to get tougher on white collar crime and corruption. So far the minister for justice has no uttered a word about what is going to be done to improve these laws.

For me this is very important and so far I have heard not one party say what they are going to do in this area and this is so important not only for the people of the country but for outsiders looking to see that yes we have made mistakes but we are learning from them and here is the legislation to prove that we are no longer the wild west of Finance.