FINE GAEL leader Enda Kenny has vowed the major recommendations in his party’s policy on political reform will be progressed within 12 months of his party assuming office.
A New Politics document, launched in Dublin yesterday, proposes the abolition of the Seanad, 20 fewer TDs, new constitutional powers for Dáil committees, and new measures which the party claims will empower ordinary citizens, who, it says, are currently disenfranchised from politics.
The party said some of the major reforms would require constitutional change. It promised to hold a super-referendum within 12 months of assuming government office, on a day which would be nominated as “Constitution day”.
There is no reference in the 100-page document to quotas for female candidates or a list system for the Dáil. Both featured in earlier drafts of the document, but were removed following internal opposition by TDs and Senators.
Under its list system proposals, the party had suggested that up to 15 TDs would be elected from a list and not from multi-seat constituencies. However, the proposal, backed by Mr Kenny and environment spokesman Phil Hogan, was rejected by the front bench.
A similar proposal to legislate for quotas to be introduced for women candidates was rejected on a vote at a parliamentary party meeting this month.
Mr Kenny and Mr Hogan denied that both measures being excluded represented a setback.
They said the two issues would be discussed at a new forum, a “citizens’ assembly” that would be set up within 100 days of the party assuming power. Mr Kenny also said he had instructed his party to set its own targets for female candidates ahead of a general election.
Details of the “citizens’ assembly” were outlined by Mr Hogan at the launch yesterday.
He said it would be along the lines of models used in Canada and in the Netherlands, and would involve 100 citizens drawn from every sector of society. Specifically, the assembly would be asked to “consider the merits or otherwise of a mixed-member system where TDs are both directly elected and elected from a list”.
Mr Kenny denied this was a “back door” way of getting the list proposal accepted after it was rejected by the parliamentary party. He told the launch the document would provide a “fundamental pillar of how we change the country the better for the next generation of citizens”.
The document was unveiled by Mr Kenny, Mr Hogan and deputy leader Richard Bruton.
Mr Hogan said it was the most ambitious political reform package since the 1930s, and would place the citizen firmly at the centre of government. Mr Bruton said the reforms were necessary to aid economic recovery.
The reforms include a stronger Dáil, with TDs from all parties having new powers to vet public appointments, to hold agencies to account, and having a much more robust involvement in legislation.
“The Dáil has become an observer of government rather than a participant,” said Mr Hogan. “We have also seen an outsourcing of government work to quangos. We will reduce the number of quangos by 150 in government.”
Other new initiatives include moves towards more open and transparent government by strong Freedom of Information legislation; new whistleblower legislation; and compulsory registration of lobbyists. The party intends to hold a “super-referendum” within a year of entering government.
A number of amendments will be proposed, including abolishing the Seanad; giving constitutional power to Dáil committees; putting the Ombudsman’s office on a constitutional footing; and decreasing the presidential term from seven to five years.