The country is celebrating the 90th anniversary of the first Dáil at a time as “unhappy and dangerous” as any the country has known in the past, according to Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny.
Mr Kenny was speaking at a joint sitting of both Houses of the Oireachtas in the Mansion House in Dublin this morning to mark the 90th anniversary of the first Dáil.
“But if one thing is clear at this time it is that we need a Dáil as envisaged by the men and women of 1919 - a Dáil which is at the centre of our politics, not one at the periphery of events, a Dáil to which the government and all its agencies are openly accountable, and most of all a Dáil which leads events rather than reacting to them,” he said.
Mr Kenny said the first Dáil gave Irish people many rules and procedures that had persisted to this day.
“And crucially it insisted on full total accountability by Government to the Dáil - accountability as to how the people’s money was spent and answerability for all the actions of government,” he added.
In his address, Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore said the democratic programme of the first Dáil was “steeped in the ideals of Labour and was brimming with optimism”.
He said those values were never more relevant or the optimism more necessary than in the present time.
“Even before our present economic difficulties, as a country we had not vindicated what the programme called "the right of every citizen to an adequate share of the produce of the nation's labour," he said.
“As we see this week how a small number of greedy individuals have brought economic havoc to our country, we can reflect on the simple statement "that it is the duty of every man and woman to give service".
Mr Gilmore said the country should be inspired by the words and courage of members of the first Dáil as “we face our moment of national crisis".