Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The amendment proposed to the House is the most extensive produced by any Government in the 76 years since Bunreacht na hÉireann was adopted by the people. It seeks to amend more than 40 provisions of the Constitution but has been prepared without consultation. No public or private body, let alone any elected representative outside the Government, has been asked for an input. No supporting studies have been published. This is a proposal to hack out a significant part of the Constitution purely on the basis that the Government wishes to claim it is reforming politics. Never before has a Government proposed an amendment to the Constitution which involved so much change and so little reform. The manner in which the amendment has been prepared is a powerful demonstration of the strongest reason people should fear its impact. A Government which already has too much power is seeking even more. The Taoiseach is entirely right to say the Bill is historic. It is historic because it marks the moment that a Government elected on the promise of deep reform decided to bury any chance for real reform. It marks the moment when this Fine Gael and Labour Party Government has confirmed that its only agenda is to keep concentrating ever more power in its own hands.

The Government's proposal is radical only because it ignores every lesson of the recent crisis. Rather than opening up politics, introducing new checks and balances within the system and delivering a more effective Parliament, the Government has chosen to double-down on the current model of governance. The amendment seeks to increase the power of the Government, halve the parliamentary review of legislation and make a flawed system much worse. It will not reform Irish politics but will, in fact, mark the end of any chance to reform it. Fundamentally, this is not purely a debate about the future of Seanad Éireann. What we are beginning is a debate on whether there will be any reform of Irish politics. If the Government succeeds with its plans, we will carry on with an even more concentrated form of a system which has clearly failed in vital areas.

Five years into an unprecedented economic and political crisis and two and a half years after an election which completely changed the make-up of this House, there has been not one significant change made to the structure of government. While there has been a dramatic increase in claims to have reformed government, the exact opposite is the reality, which can be seen every day. Many minor changes have been implemented, but the basic structure of decision-making and governance in Ireland remains absolutely untouched. During their time in opposition, Fine Gael and the Labour Party - their leaders, in particular - developed a certain approach to politics. This was to always find a villain and offer soundbites rather than solutions. It was a public relations-led strategy, which has also become a defining characteristic of their Government. They believe that if they keep making a claim, people will eventually accept it. Of course, anyone who spends time talking to people in their homes and communities knows that this has stopped working. At the core of the Government's low level of public trust is a near universal belief that there is no link between its rhetoric and the reality of its actions.

The Taoiseach has spoken again today about reforming the Dáil, but the House should remember that for two years he has been claiming that the Dáil is already reformed. A few months after taking up office, the Government pushed through a series of changes to Dáil proceedings. Opposition proposals were ignored, but a major media effort was undertaken to talk about how fundamental reform was being implemented. There was some success in persuading commentators to talk about a new dawn in the Dáil. The Chief Whip came to the House and made a statement about what Deputies would find on the next sitting day. He said:

They will return to a Dáil where Members can play a more active and meaningful role in the legislative process and where Members will have more opportunity to raise issues with Ministers in a more effective manner. They will return to a Dáil better equipped to hold the Executive to account, a Dáil that has started to turn back the tide and to recover some of the power it has been losing to the Executive for over a decade.

When we returned on the next sitting day and on every sitting day since, we have faced an Executive exerting ever tighter control over everything we do. We have faced Ministers who believe they do not have to answer even basic questions about their decisions. We have faced a determined policy to shout down opponents and shut down debate. We have met for longer but have been allowed to decide less.

The Dáil today is more marginalised and has less influence on public affairs than at any time in its 94 year history. The situation is so bad that even the Chief Whip has this week been forced to acknowledge that the Government's record is "deplorable". The same thing has been happening in nearly every Department. While Ministers put out releases praising their own visionary reforms, all that happens is that they gain more power. A succession of Bills have been introduced which increase the direct power of Ministers and reduce independent input and oversight. In areas as diverse as health and basic research Ministers have been giving themselves greater direct control. The word "reform" has been abused so much by the Government that it has been reduced to Orwellian newspeak and drained of any meaning.

The abolition of the Seanad and the concentration of all legislative functions in a Dáil tightly controlled by the Government is nothing less than a cynical power grab. It is a rejection of a more open democracy, a rejection of genuine accountability and a betrayal of the commitment made to the people to change the way Ireland is governed.

Just as the claims for having delivered reform are bogus, so too are the arguments being used to promote the amendment. From the moment of launching the amendment to his speech opening the debate, the Taoiseach has used a mixture of exaggeration and misrepresentation to promote his record and to attack the Seanad. There has been no attempt to engage with the issue of reform. Unlike previous taoisigh of different parties, the Taoiseach has approached the amending of our constitutional law in a deeply partisan manner. The Taoiseach was asked on dozens of occasions to hold cross-party consultations. He refused, and he refused even to allow the issue to be discussed at the Constitutional Convention, the forum that is supposed to be in charge of recommending constitutional reform.

This is the first time in over 40 years that a Government is seeking to make a significant amendment of the Constitution without publishing any background material to justify the measure. As it has been from the evening it was announced at a Fine Gael dinner, it is gesture politics designed to cover up a lack of substantive policies. There is no thought-through strategy behind it and no area of public policy that will be improved because of it. Arising from his tribal refusal to acknowledge the achievements of figures from different political traditions, the Taoiseach allowed the 75th anniversary of Bunreacht na hÉireann to pass without comment. In preparation for this debate, he would have been well served by taking the time to read Mr. Justice Hogan’s book on the origins and drafting of the Constitution. It shows an incredible level of debate and consultation, which ensured the Constitution was reflective of extremely modern conceptions and entrenched liberal democracy at a time when it was under siege from fascism and communism throughout Europe. In a radical decision, which has been an anchor of democracy in this State ever since, Eamon de Valera proposed that the majority in Dáil Éireann would lose the right to amend the Constitution and sought ways to broaden the voices in the Oireachtas.

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