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LABOUR PROPOSALS CAN CHANGE WAY IRELAND IS GOVERNED
6th January 2011
After months of careful analysis and bringing together our experiences in and out of government, the Labour Party today is setting out its proposals to change the way that Ireland is governed.
It is said that parties in opposition want reform, and parties in government want no change. Today, as a party with a real prospect of shaping a future government programme, we commit ourselves to this radical agenda. When they are enacted these 140 specific proposals to change the Constitution, the law and the structure of government will transform the way public business is done in Ireland.
The document is laid out as a working programme of specific measures. Some of these measures have been talked about in the past. We believe that such a comprehensive, far-reaching, integrated set of actions have never before been promised.
We propose a strong, reformed single chamber parliament with the power and authority to hold the Government; Departments of State and State Agencies to account. How this can be achieved is set out in detail in the document.
We have drawn from the work of the Dáil Sub-Committee on Reform as well as from our experiences from the Abbeylara case and the Morris Tribunal case to restore power and authority to the Dáil to exercise proper oversight. We will greatly strengthen the oversight capacity of the Dáil on European matters and decision making.
The measures we set out will also change the work of each member of Dáil Éireann. It will break the governments virtual monopoly on introducing legislation and greatly strengthen the individual members capacity both to propose and to change law.
The document shows the changes we will make in Departmental accountability.
For too long, failures were always systemic; no one was accountable. In proposals 69 onwards we set out to change that, to delegate specific powers to specific officers who would be accountable both within the Department and also directly to the Oireachtas for the exercise of those powers.
The true impact and consequences of our proposals will be difficult to fully envision. We are convinced that these changes will open public business to the people, and genuinely begin to restore confidence and a sense of ownership by the people in their own affairs.
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