FIANNA FÁIL LEADER Micheál Martin has said that it is time to change the way that politics and government operate in Ireland – and called particularly for parliamentary and constitutional reform.

Speaking at the MacGill Summer School in Glenties, Co Donegal, Martin said the economic crisis affecting the country was a result of a “series of systematic failures”.

Martin said that the systemic failures in question involve all political parties, but added that “parties in government have a particular role and my party has quite rightly been held accountable. We lost a historic number of seats and are a now a completely changed party”.

He said that the “rhetoric of reform” that was being espoused by the current administration was being “accepted uncritically because of the natural goodwill which new governments benefit from”, however he warned that if the things continued to proceed in the direction they were headed there would be no reform and “a very real step backwards”.

Number of committees

Martin pointed out that the existing number of Dáil committees were being reduced “in the name of rationalisation”, but added that the supposedly abolished committees would still exist in the form of sub-committees. As a result of this, he said, the discussion of legislation, spending, departmental plans and the operation of state agencies was “more completely” in the hands of the government than before.

He also said that the use of guillotines to end debate has been increased significantly, and was routinely being extended to minor and non-urgent bills.

Martin criticised the ostensible reform concerning the introduction of Friday sittings of the Dáil, saying that the Dáil will sit on Fridays “only once a month (and) there will be no government business, no questions, no votes and only 10 out of the 166 members of the Dáil need to be in Leinster House for sittings to take place”.

Martin also said that a major tax change had been pushed through without any background documents being circulated: “A €1.8 million pension levy was imposed but there was a blanket refusal to publish the background studies which routinely accompany all budget measures”.

Constitutional amendments

Saying that key parliamentary reforms require constitutional amendments, Martin criticisied the planned “rushing through” of the text for three amendments this coming September without time to discuss of evaluate the issues. These concerned|:

• Judicial independence and pay
• Increasing the effectiveness of Oireachtas Committees
• The issue of whistleblowers

“I simply don’t agree that the only people qualified to run large and complex departments are those few who can both get elected to the Dáil and be part of the majority,” he said. ” If we want ministers to be able to travel widely promoting trade this is not possible if they have to attend to daily parliamentary business.  Other countries manage to have strong democracies while opening up government beyond politicians – we should too.”

The European Union

Martin said Ireland was “strengthened by its deep engagement within a strong European community” but that the country had still not found a way of incorporating Europe in the political culture in a way that recognises this. He said that a detachment from Europe was developing in the Ireland, and that polarising views were emerging along the lines of  ”you’re not European enough or you’re too European”.

Martin said that the failure to address Ireland’s relationship with the euro had contributed to the economic crisis – as had the failure to introduce major fiscal and financial constraints at the time of joining the common currency.

Also speaking at the Summer School was Green Party leader Eamon Ryan, who said there was need for three questions to be asked in relation to political reform, specifically:

• Do we have the will to change the way we vote?
• Has central government the will to give power back to the local?
• Do we have the will to change the permanent government?

“If our aim is to change the way in which people approach their vote then we need to create a different relationship between the voter and the political system,” he said.

Ryan praised the ‘We The Citizens’ initiative, which he said had been “hugely beneficial in showing one way in which a model of further public participation can work”.

He also said that the building of a renewable energy system “has the potential to give this country the greatest economic lift since the early 1960’s and which will provide energy security for generations to come.”