McDowell criticises ‘stupid votes’ held on ‘stupid issues’ in Dáil

Former Progressive Democrats minister Michael McDowell has described the Dáil as a “bear pit” where “stupid votes were called on stupid issues”.

The Seanad hopeful said when he was a minister he initiated most of his Bills in the Seanad as he felt the level of debate there was of a higher quality and non adversarial.

“The Dáil is a bear pit. It’s Punch and Judy stuff. The Minister says X, the Opposition says Y and there are stupid votes called on stupid issues,” he said on Newstalk Breakfast.

Mr McDowell said the Seanad should be a chamber that plays a full part in how government works and said he was not disillusioned about the problems the upper chamber faces.

“Both the Dáil and the Seanad have been rubber stamp assemblies under the thumb of executive since forever. I believe reform is coming - we are getting out from under the thumb.

“There are new powers for the Ceann Comhairle giving members of the Dáil new status and dignity, free from control of the whip.

“There is a difference between debate and being a legislator. Your function is not all the time to score points off other people. Your function is to try to improve the legislation you are dealing with.

“When you are in the Dáil, people call you to account for what you’re doing. But the system in the Dáil was such that you just stood up, gave a response to a written question and you could avoid real accountability on issues by flannelling the other side. That’s how the system works.

“In a proper functioning democracy a Minister would be called before a committee and really put through the mill as to what he or she had or had not done on an issue.

“We’ve had an executive dominated unit parliament. We need to get away from that.”

He admitted that he once described the Seanad as “a cross between a convalescent home and a crèche.

“That is a fair description of some aspects of it. But it doesn’t need to be like that.

“It can be a place where people get a voice on matters not through the political system. University seats should be reformed, it’s not fair that some don’t have votes.

He also admitted that becoming a Senator will not of financial benefit. “It won’t help my law practice, it is a vocational chamber.”