Fianna Fáil - Real Political Reform Policy Document

Sierra Oscar

Over the last week Fianna Fáil seemingly published a policy document outlining its initial position on political reform. Considering political reform is something that is often discussed in this forum, I think it would be interesting to see what people think of the FF policy paper.

The policy document in question can be read here.

Some of the key proposals are as follows:

• Ability for all Irish citizens to vote in Presidential elections, irrespective of residency location.
• Reduction in age of eligibility to run for the office of President.
• Creation of an Oireachtas Office of Policy and Economic Oversight to provide independent reviews of all legislative and policy proposals.
• Reform of Dáil standing orders to empower parliament and reduce ministerial control over the parliamentary agenda.
• Introduction of a 'Regular Order' procedure to ensure that legislative proposals can no longer be rammed through the Oireachtas without necessary debate and analysis.
• Allow committees to operate completely outside of government control to allow them provide proper and effective oversight.
• Introduction of secret ballot elections for the position of Ceann Comhairle to allow the Oireachtas to be independent of government control.
• Removal of Ministers from the Oireachtas so long as they hold ministerial office to allow them focus more so upon ministerial work.
• Allow for non-Oireachtas members to be appointed as Ministers.
• Requirement for perspective ministers to outline their policy agenda before taking office.
• Allow the Dáil to have more oversight over cabinet meetings and discussions.
• Allow for elections to be carried out over more than one day, with voting occurring on Friday and Saturday with count beginning on Sunday.
• Banning of government funded information campaigns during a referendum.
• Reform of Dáil questions to allow for more rigorous oversight of ministerial work.
• Disallow government from controlling private members business.

It seems that by all accounts the policy paper proposes some radical reforms for our political system, and considering that Fianna Fáil will likely contest the next election with a heavy emphasis on political reform it might be worthwhile to discuss the proposals. Personally I think that a lot of the proposals make sense to me, although I would have some reservations surrounding the prospect that ministers could be appointed from outside the Oireachtas.

What do people think of the actual proposals, are they worthwhile pursuing?

Also - just to pre-empt the naysayers - yes, we know FF didn't implement such radical measures whilst in government. A lot has changed since then however, and FF are well aware of the necessity for parliament to have proper oversight over government business. It is at least encouraging that a party is putting forward actual proposals on political reform, rather than just talking about the concept.

Hopefully the publication of the document will provoke a more general discussion of political reform. I am also looking forward to FF's policy document outlining its proposed reforms for Seanad Éireann, it should provide an interesting addition to the referendum campaign.

raymon

Reform in my opinion would not involve giving more say to the party who savagely bankrupted our country through incompetence corruption and economic treason.

Thanks for the proposal though

ArmaniJeanss

Sierra Oscar wrote: »

1.
• Removal of Ministers from the Oireachtas so long as they hold ministerial office to allow them focus more so upon ministerial work.
  2.
• Allow for non-Oireachtas members to be appointed as Ministers.
  3.
• Requirement for perspective ministers to outline their policy agenda before taking office.
  4.
• Allow the Dáil to have more oversight over cabinet meetings and discussions.
  5.
• Reform of Dáil questions to allow for more rigorous oversight of ministerial work.

Is this not all completely contradictory? (I've numbered the points for reference purposes).

If I'm the very best person for the job of Minister of XXXXXXX then its good and proper that I can get that role without the tedious business of electioneering. (2) (Some would agree, some not, but if thats a FF position then lets roll with it).
And its great that I can dispense with Oireachtas bureaucracy so I can concentrate on my important Ministerial role (1). (I can accept that I've had to outline my policies before taking office (3)).
This is all novel and revolutionary but I can see its merits.

So why then on the other hand do you want Dail Question Time reformed for 'rigourous ministerial oversight' (5), and why do you want the Dail to have oversight (but not rigourous oversight) at Cabinet meetings (4)?

With respect it seems a mess, as if two totally different people had put together this plan?

jank

Sierra Oscar wrote: »

Over the last week Fianna Fáil seemingly published a policy document outlining its initial position on political reform. Considering political reform is something that is often discussed in this forum, I think it would be interesting to see what people think of the FF policy paper.

The policy document in question can be read here.

Some of the key proposals are as follows:

• Ability for all Irish citizens to vote in Presidential elections, irrespective of residency location.
• Reduction in age of eligibility to run for the office of President.
• Creation of an Oireachtas Office of Policy and Economic Oversight to provide independent reviews of all legislative and policy proposals.
• Reform of Dáil standing orders to empower parliament and reduce ministerial control over the parliamentary agenda.
• Introduction of a 'Regular Order' procedure to ensure that legislative proposals can no longer be rammed through the Oireachtas without necessary debate and analysis.
• Allow committees to operate completely outside of government control to allow them provide proper and effective oversight.
• Introduction of secret ballot elections for the position of Ceann Comhairle to allow the Oireachtas to be independent of government control.
• Removal of Ministers from the Oireachtas so long as they hold ministerial office to allow them focus more so upon ministerial work.
• Allow for non-Oireachtas members to be appointed as Ministers.
• Requirement for perspective ministers to outline their policy agenda before taking office.
• Allow the Dáil to have more oversight over cabinet meetings and discussions.
• Allow for elections to be carried out over more than one day, with voting occurring on Friday and Saturday with count beginning on Sunday.
• Banning of government funded information campaigns during a referendum.
• Reform of Dáil questions to allow for more rigorous oversight of ministerial work.
• Disallow government from controlling private members business.

It seems that by all accounts the policy paper proposes some radical reforms for our political system, and considering that Fianna Fáil will likely contest the next election with a heavy emphasis on political reform it might be worthwhile to discuss the proposals. Personally I think that a lot of the proposals make sense to me, although I would have some reservations surrounding the prospect that ministers could be appointed from outside the Oireachtas.

What do people think of the actual proposals, are they worthwhile pursuing?

Also - just to pre-empt the naysayers - yes, we know FF didn't implement such radical measures whilst in government. A lot has changed since then however, and FF are well aware of the necessity for parliament to have proper oversight over government business. It is at least encouraging that a party is putting forward actual proposals on political reform, rather than just talking about the concept.

Hopefully the publication of the document will provoke a more general discussion of political reform. I am also looking forward to FF's policy document outlining its proposed reforms for Seanad Éireann, it should provide an interesting addition to the referendum campaign.

A lot of those measures have been in FF policy documents before. What makes you think that this time out it will be different!?

Anyway, it seems to be very light on actual reform and more about Dail reform. Where is the list system? Where are the changes to ways to vote? Where are the changes to reduce the number of TD's. Where are the changes to actually empower local authority? Where are the changes to current system where TD's are competing with each other to plug as many pot holes as possible. If this is the best that FF can come up with when the entire country is screaming for changes then it doesn't bode well for anything new or radical from them. Too set in their ways I think.

Sierra Oscar

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

So why then on the other hand do you want Dail Question Time reformed for 'rigourous ministerial oversight' (5), and why do you want the Dail to have oversight (but not rigourous oversight) at Cabinet meetings (4)?

With respect it seems a mess, as if two totally different people had put together this plan?

Because at the moment Dáil question time is a farce, with ministers not really being required to answer questions if necessary. Furthermore, if a Minister suspects that they will face a tough time then they can get government TD's to flood the floor with novel parliamentary questions. These questions can be bumped to the front of the 'queue', and by the time question time is over the actual meaningful questions are not raised - and they do not carry over to another slot.

It has been well documented by journalists who keep a close eye on Dáil procedure.

FF accuses James Reilly of ‘rigging’ question time in Dáil

Dáil rules mean that five questions put to each minister are nominated as ‘priority questions’, and are deliberately taken first so that the TD putting the question has a chance to ask a follow-up question or seek supplementary information.

After that, however, the order of questions is chosen by a lottery – with today’s lottery meaning five of the next seven questions from Fine Gael backbenchers asking about the progress made in eliminating waiting lists or MRSA in their various local hospitals.

In a typical session of oral questions, the minister will only have time to answer their five priority questions and between three to five others. Questions which do not get an oral answer in the time allotted are answered in writing, reducing the opportunity for a follow-up inquiry.
Ballooning number of questions

The number of questions submitted by TDs for Reilly’s five-weekly session of oral questions has ballooned in recent months.

170 questions have been tabled for today’s session, which begins at 2:30pm. 112 had been tabled for Reilly’s last batch, on February 14, while the previous sessions in September and November had 71 and 86 questions respectively.

I think it is extremely important that question time is reformed, especially considering FF is proposing that people from outside of the Oireachtas could be appointed ministers. It is crucial that there is proper oversight should we start appointing non-Oireachtas members to cabinet.

The document also does propose some significant reforms surrounding cabinet oversight, you are merely just picking at the language I used. For starters requiring the chairman of cabinet committees to appear before an independent Oireachtas committee, to face questioning surrounding cabinet work, is a pretty big step to take.

raymon wrote: »

Reform in my opinion would not involve giving more say to the party who savagely bankrupted our country through incompetence corruption and economic treason.

Thanks for the proposal though

Would you care to actually discuss the proposals in question? Perhaps you could imagine that they were being put forward by a party other than FF to allow you overcome any hangups yuo have! Also you are aware that with your mindset you want power to be centralised even more towards the executive. How will you feel then when FF are back in government?

Party politics aside, it really is important that we empower our parliament to allow it work as it should.

jank

Sierra Oscar wrote: »

Party politics aside, it really is important that we empower our parliament to allow it work as it should.

I honestly don't think a supporter of FF can lecture us about putting Party Poltiics' aside when FF have been power almost exclusively form 1987 to 2011 baring a few years here and there. I agree in one way about reform but I have a bit of Schadenfreude as well when it comes to FF moaning about this.

OCorcrainn

Sierra Oscar wrote: »

Over the last week Fianna Fáil seemingly published a policy document outlining its initial position on political reform. Considering political reform is something that is often discussed in this forum, I think it would be interesting to see what people think of the FF policy paper.

The policy document in question can be read here.

Some of the key proposals are as follows:

• Ability for all Irish citizens to vote in Presidential elections, irrespective of residency location.
• Reduction in age of eligibility to run for the office of President.
• Creation of an Oireachtas Office of Policy and Economic Oversight to provide independent reviews of all legislative and policy proposals.
• Reform of Dáil standing orders to empower parliament and reduce ministerial control over the parliamentary agenda.
• Introduction of a 'Regular Order' procedure to ensure that legislative proposals can no longer be rammed through the Oireachtas without necessary debate and analysis.
• Allow committees to operate completely outside of government control to allow them provide proper and effective oversight.
• Introduction of secret ballot elections for the position of Ceann Comhairle to allow the Oireachtas to be independent of government control.
• Removal of Ministers from the Oireachtas so long as they hold ministerial office to allow them focus more so upon ministerial work.
• Allow for non-Oireachtas members to be appointed as Ministers.
• Requirement for perspective ministers to outline their policy agenda before taking office.
• Allow the Dáil to have more oversight over cabinet meetings and discussions.
• Allow for elections to be carried out over more than one day, with voting occurring on Friday and Saturday with count beginning on Sunday.
• Banning of government funded information campaigns during a referendum.
• Reform of Dáil questions to allow for more rigorous oversight of ministerial work.
• Disallow government from controlling private members business.

Practically every single one of those have been part of Sinn Féin's proposed political reforms for years. Your own party along with FG/LB have ridiculed such proposals.

It seems that by all accounts the policy paper proposes some radical reforms for our political system, and considering that Fianna Fáil will likely contest the next election with a heavy emphasis on political reform it might be worthwhile to discuss the proposals.

Heavy emphasis on political reforms that you "borrowed" from Sinn Féin. You are deluded if think FF will make gains, they are going to make losses, but the question is to what extent.

What do people think of the actual proposals, are they worthwhile pursuing?

Considering that these are actually SF policies dressed up by Fianna Fáil as their own original policies. Yes

Also - just to pre-empt the naysayers - yes, we know FF didn't implement such radical measures whilst in government.

Yes, we know that Fianna Fáil only had 15 years in government to make such reforms. BUT THEY DIDN'T.

A lot has changed since then however,

Really, but I thought your current leader was part of the Fianna Fáil cabinet and was a minister in Bertie Ahern's and Brian Cowen's government for the last 15 years?

and FF are well aware of the necessity for parliament to have proper oversight over government business.

Why are they only aware of it now and not for the last 15 years?

It is at least encouraging that a party is putting forward actual proposals on political reform, rather than just talking about the concept.

Sorry yes but not from FF, Sinn Féin beat you to that years ago with "actual" proposals on political reform. Here are some recent examples.

http://www.sinnfein.ie/files/2011/PoliticalReformDoc.pdf
http://www.sinnfein.ie/files/2011/Community_Document_15-2-11.pdf


It is interesting but futile that you use this forum as some sort of soapbox for your party.

raymon

OCorcrainn wrote: »

It is interesting but futile that you use this forum a some sort of soapbox for your party.

I have no objection to the OP using this site as a soapbox for his party.
What I don't like is when he doesn't announce his affiliation.

For example by reading " Over the last week Fianna Fáil seemingly published a policy document outlining its initial position on political reform " you might think that the OP was an unafilliated voter who happened upon a doc.

I would prefer if he would say : " I am a Fianna Fail activist and would like to share my partys latest proposal."

serfboard

Sierra Oscar wrote: »

Allow for non-Oireachtas members to be appointed as Ministers.

Non-Oireachtas members ... also known as donors to, and "friends" of, FF.

raymon

Sierra Oscar wrote: »

Would you care to actually discuss the proposals in question? Perhaps you could imagine that they were being put forward by a party other than FF to allow you overcome any hangups yuo have! Also you are aware that with your mindset you want power to be centralised even more towards the executive. How will you feel then when FF are back in government?

Party politics aside, it really is important that we empower our parliament to allow it work as it should.

You ask me to debate the document , but according to the Independent it was not even debated internally amongst Fianna Fail TDs before it was released. It was presented by Michael Martin to his TDs as a done deal.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/fianna-fail-revolt-over-martins-inner-circle-29472374.html

Sand

Why didn't Fianna Fail do any of this between 1997 and 2011? Didn't they have enough time and money? Given their sudden grá for reform why did they sabotage the Freedom of Information Act back in 2002?

Also - just to pre-empt the naysayers - yes, we know FF didn't implement such radical measures whilst in government. A lot has changed since then however

Yeah, Fianna Fail got kicked out of power. That is all that changed. So they copy and pasted a list of nice sounding ideas that other people came up with because they heard the people are into this reforming thing these days. And if we allow that they get back into power this reformist zeal will dissipate rapidly and we'll be told "Oh, but a lot has changed since the time that policy paper was drawn up".

Fianna Fail as a reform movement? :rolleyes:

Silentcorner

Sierra Oscar wrote: »

Over the last week Fianna Fáil seemingly published a policy document outlining its initial position on political reform. Considering political reform is something that is often discussed in this forum, I think it would be interesting to see what people think of the FF policy paper.

The policy document in question can be read here.

Some of the key proposals are as follows:

• Ability for all Irish citizens to vote in Presidential elections, irrespective of residency location.
• Reduction in age of eligibility to run for the office of President.
• Creation of an Oireachtas Office of Policy and Economic Oversight to provide independent reviews of all legislative and policy proposals.
• Reform of Dáil standing orders to empower parliament and reduce ministerial control over the parliamentary agenda.
• Introduction of a 'Regular Order' procedure to ensure that legislative proposals can no longer be rammed through the Oireachtas without necessary debate and analysis.
• Allow committees to operate completely outside of government control to allow them provide proper and effective oversight.
• Introduction of secret ballot elections for the position of Ceann Comhairle to allow the Oireachtas to be independent of government control.
• Removal of Ministers from the Oireachtas so long as they hold ministerial office to allow them focus more so upon ministerial work.
• Allow for non-Oireachtas members to be appointed as Ministers.
• Requirement for perspective ministers to outline their policy agenda before taking office.
• Allow the Dáil to have more oversight over cabinet meetings and discussions.
• Allow for elections to be carried out over more than one day, with voting occurring on Friday and Saturday with count beginning on Sunday.
• Banning of government funded information campaigns during a referendum.
• Reform of Dáil questions to allow for more rigorous oversight of ministerial work.
• Disallow government from controlling private members business.

It seems that by all accounts the policy paper proposes some radical reforms for our political system, and considering that Fianna Fáil will likely contest the next election with a heavy emphasis on political reform it might be worthwhile to discuss the proposals. Personally I think that a lot of the proposals make sense to me, although I would have some reservations surrounding the prospect that ministers could be appointed from outside the Oireachtas.

What do people think of the actual proposals, are they worthwhile pursuing?

Also - just to pre-empt the naysayers - yes, we know FF didn't implement such radical measures whilst in government. A lot has changed since then however, and FF are well aware of the necessity for parliament to have proper oversight over government business. It is at least encouraging that a party is putting forward actual proposals on political reform, rather than just talking about the concept.

Hopefully the publication of the document will provoke a more general discussion of political reform. I am also looking forward to FF's policy document outlining its proposed reforms for Seanad Éireann, it should provide an interesting addition to the referendum campaign.

Let us be under no illusion FF only wants to regain power...stop antagonizing the rest of us with this reform program nonsense...

This is straight out of a focus group study, which means essentially paid for by the taxpayer, as your party receives millions from the taxpayer every year...despite the damage your party is directly responsible for...which is quite sickening when you think about it....

Is this the reform Mr Martin and all his loyal enforcers (O'Dea /Collins /McGrath /Dooley etc) have been blabbering on about for the last two and a half years....is this it?

Tell me, because I haven't read the entire document what does it say about FF Taoisigh being drunk on the job? Taking cash from vested interests? If that "document" does not deal with political corruption (which IMO is the single biggest threat to the Irish Citizens standard of living) then we can truly state that FF has not turned its back on corruption...

There are members of your party who should be in jail....instead they are knocking on doors pretending nothing has changed....

nesf

OCorcrainn wrote: »

It is interesting but futile that you use this forum as some sort of soapbox for your party.

I find this being tagged onto what's basically a long ad for SF rather amusing.

raymon wrote: »

I have no objection to the OP using this site as a soapbox for his party.
What I don't like is when he doesn't announce his affiliation.

For example by reading " Over the last week Fianna Fáil seemingly published a policy document outlining its initial position on political reform " you might think that the OP was an unafilliated voter who happened upon a doc.

I would prefer if he would say : " I am a Fianna Fail activist and would like to share my partys latest proposal."

When has he hid it? He doesn't pretend to be neutral on here, any regular would know by now that Sierra Oscar is a strong FF supporter. Really, I'm having a hard time here believing you actually think the above and are not just trying to get a few digs in.

raymon

nesf wrote: »

When has he hid it? He doesn't pretend to be neutral on here, any regular would know by now that Sierra Oscar is a strong FF supporter. Really, I'm having a hard time here believing you actually think the above and are not just trying to get a few digs in.

" Over the last week Fianna Fáil seemingly published a policy document outlining its initial position on political reform "

You know he is a FF activist , I know he is a FF activist. You are correct , any regular would know.

I just feel like anyone who is a party activist , whether FG, FF, Lab , SF etc , should at least announce their affiliation if presenting a party document for review/ debate.

He is not alone , there are surely FG , Lab , SF party activists on here too .

The Journal.ie website is riddled with FF activists portraying themselves as regular punters in opinion articles.

For the record I am not a member or supporter of any specific party or grouping.

nesf

raymon wrote: »

" Over the last week Fianna Fáil seemingly published a policy document outlining its initial position on political reform "

You know he is a FF activist , I know he is a FF activist. You are correct , any regular would know.

I just feel like anyone who is a party activist , whether FG, FF, Lab , SF etc , should at least announce their affiliation if presenting a party document for review/ debate.

He is not alone , there are surely FG , Lab , SF party activists on here too .

The Journal.ie website is riddled with FF activists portraying themselves as regular punters in opinion articles.

For the record I am not a member or supporter of any specific party or grouping.

Really, it's a discussion forum, people have a history on here, if you're curious about someone you can just quickly search their posts in Politics and see if they support one party consistently or not. The issue on the Journal and elsewhere is that you don't have this continuity. E.g. if I started posting pro-socialist rhetoric on the forum any regular would know my account had been hijacked or I was winding someone up, ditto if you started singing the praises of Martin or McGrath.

I really don't think he needs to preface everything with "I'm a FF supporter." That becomes pretty bloody obvious after a post or two.

raymon

nesf wrote: »

Really, it's a discussion forum, people have a history on here, if you're curious about someone you can just quickly search their posts in Politics and see if they support one party consistently or not. The issue on the Journal and elsewhere is that you don't have this continuity. E.g. if I started posting pro-socialist rhetoric on the forum any regular would know my account had been hijacked or I was winding someone up, ditto if you started singing the praises of Martin or McGrath.

I really don't think he needs to preface everything with "I'm a FF supporter." That becomes pretty bloody obvious after a post or two.

Not every post , that would be ridiculous.

Sometimes it is not obvious that someone is a party activist in their OP

For the OP above I think it would have been helpful to provide context.

Sierra Oscar

raymon wrote: »

" Over the last week Fianna Fáil seemingly published a policy document outlining its initial position on political reform "

What is wrong with what I said? Yes I am a Fianna Fáil supporter, but I don't follow each and every single development that occurs in the party. You seem to expect me to know about every single thing going on in FF before it happens. I am not a FF spokesperson, I don't feel the need to have to highlight my support for FF in every single post. No one expects anyone else to have to do that, although I have always been quite open with my support of FF (and I have been quite critical of the party too in the past I might add).

I put up the thread in good faith. Political reform is one of the things I am very interested at the moment, and judging by public discourse I am not the only one. It is something which is discussed continually within this very forum, so no harm actually highlighting when a political group puts forwards some actual proposals. With the Seanad referendum it is likely to be something that will be discussed a whole lot more.

It would have been nice if you had the courtesy to discuss the actual issue at hand rather than having another go at me. Ill leave it at that though, don't want to further derail my own thread.

nesf

raymon wrote: »

Not every post , that would be ridiculous.

Sometimes it is not obvious that someone is a party activist in their OP

For the OP above I think it would have been helpful to provide context.

But the context is already supplied by his couple hundred posts on this forum. Sure, for someone's first foray into this forum I can see your point but for a regular poster I think it's completely unnecessary.

raymon

Sierra Oscar wrote: »

What is wrong with what I said? Yes I am a Fianna Fáil supporter, but I don't follow each and every single development that occurs in the party. You seem to expect me to know about every single thing going on in FF before it happens. I am not a FF spokesperson.

I put up the thread in good faith. Political reform is one of the things I am very interested at the moment, and judging by public discourse I am not the only one. It is something which is discussed continually within this very forum, so no harm actually highlighting when a political group puts forwards some actual proposals. With the Seanad referendum it is likely to be something that will be discussed a whole lot more.

It would have been nice if you had the courtesy to discuss the actual issue at hand rather than having another go at me. Ill leave it at that though, don't want to further derail my own thread.

I have discussed the doc. See above.

I decided that the doc had no merit because FF TDs had complained that the were not given a chance to debate it themselves.

So why should I debate a doc of dubious origin?

Who created this original document ? Who debated it at TD level?

Sierra Oscar

raymon wrote: »

Who created this original document ? Who debated it at TD level?

How would I know what TD debated it? You can be sure it was discussed at a parliamentary party meeting before being adopted as party policy.

The Ard Fheis discussed political reform. Policy conference meetings have discussed political reform. Individual cumann meetings have discussed political reform. It all leads into the creation of policy. These things, despite what some people think, don't just appear out of the blue.

Stop being so selective with what you quote, and don't believe everything you read in the Independent - which you have called a rag and accused of lying on plenty of occasions in the past I might add.

raymon

Sierra Oscar wrote: »

How would I know what TD debated it? You can be sure it was discussed at a parliamentary party meeting before being adopted as party policy.

The Ard Fheis discussed political reform. Policy conference meetings have discussed political reform. Individual cumann meetings have discussed political reform. It all leads into the creation of policy. These things, despite what some people think, don't just appear out of the blue.

Stop being so selective with what you quote, and don't believe everything you read in the Independent - which you have called a rag and accused of lying on plenty of occasions in the past I might add.

The Independent is a rag and has a lot of makey uppey stories .

That's why I wanted to give you an opportunity to confirm the origin of the doc.Who wrote it ? Who specifically debated it.

According to the Independent Martin presented it to TDs as a fait accompli.

Sierra Oscar

raymon wrote: »

That's why I wanted to give you an opportunity to confirm the origin of the doc.Who wrote it ? Who specifically debated it.

Again, how do you expect me to know? Seriously? Just because I am a member of FF (there are over 20,000 others) you expect me to answer these sort of in-depth questions, as if I have more insider knowledge than Micheál Martin himself!

Policy development is pretty standard in all political parties. Members put forward suggestions (as has been the case as far back as the Ard Fheis in 2011). Party staff put together proposals based on member feedback, which is further debated and discussed. Out of all of that a policy document is created. It is not rocket science, and I don't see why this process would not have applied in this instance.

Personally I am always weary of sensationalist newspaper articles which have comments from 'unnamed' individuals.

OCorcrainn

Sierra Oscar wrote: »

Again, how do you expect me to know? Seriously? Just because I am a member of FF (there are over 20,000 others) you expect me to answer these sort of in-depth questions, as if I have more insider knowledge than Micheál Martin himself!

Policy development is pretty standard in all political parties. Members put forward suggestions (as has been the case as far back as the Ard Fheis in 2011). Party staff put together proposals based on member feedback, which is further debated and discussed. Out of all of that a policy document is created. It is not rocket science, and I don't see why this process would not have applied in this instance.

Personally I am always weary of sensationalist newspaper articles which have comments from 'unnamed' individuals.

What is your opinion of Fianna Fáil trying to pass off Sinn Féin political reform policy as their own then having the audacity to claim them as their own new, radical and original proposals?

OCorcrainn

Still waiting for your response.