Is this due to the workload or because he is 80? And there is still 4 years left in his second term.
RTE news : President expresses concern over volume of legislation
http://www.rte.ie/news/2021/0729/1238070-higgins-letter-oireachtas/
Neither, he's raising the issue of rushing through a lot of complex legislation in one go. It's a Dail level issue.
Ya this is what I took it to mean. He was basically telling the dail to work better and not rush loads of legislation through
I think there’s a possibility that he’s sensitive to the recent criticism of him and wants to draw a distinction between himself and government in the eyes of the public
The lad is 80 odd,i doubt he gives a balls about any critism/praise at this stage
The President has a staff that can raise issues if there are any problems with his pro-forma signing.
The presidency should be scrapped.
He does feck all for 10 years and as soon as he's asked to do a bit of work he has a moan to the media.
Bet he's not complaining about his wages and the various junkets he's been on since 2011, all funded by the taxpayer of course.
It's quite clear he's telling the dail to quit rushing legislation through
The pandemic has shown that this government is particularly inept at planning legislation. They have announced several pandemic related measures before considering the legal implications and then had to catch up late with hastily moved bills, sometimes debated quickly and late into the night, before holiday deadlines. The president is right to fire a shot across their bows and ask for some control and consideration.
Government ministers have blundered through solo run announcements, ignoring questions about possible legal issues, only to have to go back and pass legislation to give any hope of implementation. The Minister for justice should have been fired for her lack of legal understanding when she introduced relaxation measures that effectively instructed the Gardai to ignore state law and 'use their discretion' with regard to outdoor drinking and gathering.
Nod and wink legislation isn't worth the paper it literally isn't printed on.
I'm fairness MDH raises a fair point albeit very diplomatically put. There has been quite a lot of legislation pushed through in a very short space of time. I would argue however, he had the option of calling a council of state or referring legislation to the supreme Court for consideration, he choose neither and that begs some questions given the argument he raises, in essence was he too rushed to fully scrutinise the legislation?
Of course there are those who believe he's there just to rubber stamp government wishes, I tend to disagree and would have concerns not enough scrutiny has been put into alot of legislation recently that even the most objective observer would have to say, was rushed through the Dail, I get urgency, but not sloppyness.
For the record, if less time was spent reciting poetry and talking nonsense, MDH might have more time on his hands, the Aras has turned into an extension of the Abbey Theatre FFS
While I'm at it 😂😂
The president must have a belief that a measure is unconstitutional before he referred it to the Supreme Court. It much the same with calling a council of state he must have reasons why he is unhappy with the legislation.
To do that he must read through the legislation bill and see issues he may feel are in need on consideration. His problem is that he has 7 days to review legislation before he signs it. If 2-3 bills need to be considered in a timeframe of 7-10 days it requires a lot if reading and re-reading if a bill. As well he may require a legal opinion from a trusted legal advisor before he considers the necessity of calling a CoS to consider referring a bill to the SC.
It not just a matter of referring a bill to the SC because he feels he has not time to analyse it
Another reason not to send a bill to the SC is that if the SC finds it constitutional the constitutionality of any part of that bill can never again be challenged.
I needed a good laugh , thanks for that
Your welcome, I couldn't resist 😂😂😂
I do agree completely, but is the president's subtle argument too much legislation being landed on his desk, my only concern with this argument would be by default he's not actually being given enough time to fully scrutinise and therefore and perhaps maybe he's actually unable to determine if a piece of legislation is infact constitutional? There's been alot of cases brought before the SC for less tangible arguments, again, I'm just suggesting possible issues with legislation rushed and signed into law without thorough scrutiny.
He's a glorified rubber stamper who's finally having to do a little bit of work for a good salary and has staff on hand to help with everything, the Dáil's job isn't to make life easy for the president, it's to pass legislation, given the nature of politics, there will be peaks and troughs, a good president would have planned for that.
If there's a constitutional issue, call it, otherwise put in a few late nights and get the work done. Biden, at a similar age, doesn't seem to have any issues in both getting the bills, orders and memos in place and then reading what's passed to him and getting them signed.
It's almost like when you get elected to a 7-year term at the age of 70, and promise to serve only one term because it would be ludicrous to have someone working full-time into their 80s, you should really not renege on that promise.
A citizen has to have attained their 35th year before being eligible as president. Perhaps we need to think of an upper age limit, with Presidents retiring at the end of their 8th decade.
If people had an issue with him deciding to go for a second term they could have voted for someone else though. He got over 800,000 first preference votes and won on the first count so clearly people accepted his change of heart.
its government level issue
You'd need to be right thick to think that Higgins problem here is that he feels too overworked.
Its clear as day that he is making a point to the government about what they are doing.
My only problem is that he isn't being strong enough, he is being far too diplomatic.
I am in the presidents corner here. If I recall he was sent 9 bills for signing in the Jan-June period and 9 in July alone including 7 in one day. I am not sure there is any job out there where the work load is that spread out and can be suddenly that intense. 7 Bills in one day means he has a day to review and decide on each bill, assuming he sleeps 8 hours a day and take 2 hours a day for meals means you are down to 14 hours to read, understand, confer with others and decide on each bill and that assumes that there is nothing else on his plate.
It is always an issue with the Dail that legislation is rushed towards Holiday time and better planning is needed on this point.
I don't get it. Raise a valid issue about inconsistent workflow, response is ageist accusations of incompetence. I hope none of you manage people.
So the RTE-installed Champagne socialist who claimed that he'd only serve one term found out that he has to work and has a bit of a hissy fit? :) Welcome to the real world.
Regards...jmcc
i'm kinda bemused that people have such little care for the oversight of irish legislation, that when someone has 7 bills to scrutinise in seven days before signing them into law, that it's that person's fault for having that much legislation to read and understand.
He was the one assuring all the other candidates in the debates that he knew what the presidency was about and what it entailed. He can hardly complain that this was unexpected.
When did he moan to the media?
champagne socialist ? lol
pointlessly commenting on things you dont understand again regards jmcc ?
It's not only unexpected, it is unprecedented and a direct result of bad planning on the Government's part. Much of the recently rushed legislation has been caused by rash decisions being taken and implemented by Government, only to find out later that they actually required legislative input.
It is only right that the President raises a warning flag when he sees a problem arising with the political process... that is literally his job.
He took the job. He should do it rather than whine about the workload.
You don’t appear to understand.
he didn’t complain about his own workload.
rgds
Your are missing the point. He is not complaining about the workload. He is complaining about the cack handed way legislation is being passed at the moment. The legal process requires and demands more thought than the Government has been giving it in recent times. That is risky and bad practice.
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