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Political Reform Must Be A Priority

By February 26, 2016No Comments

If I am elected in this General Election, Dail reform and a new way forward for politics will be one of my main objectives during the new term.
I have raised this issue in the past, but in the short time that I have been in Dail Eireann it has been a largely frustrating exercise because you cannot get anyone in Government to answer a question directly. I have been on Leaders Questions on many occasions and I seldom got a straight answer to any question I asked. We have to make our Dail more accountable. Fine Gael promised a fundamental shake up the political system when they came to power in 2011 but nothing has changed, in fact things have probably got worse.
I listened with interest to the Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin on RTE Radio this morning and his view was that the reason that support is slipping for the mainstream parties is that they operate in sound bites, that every question is answered with quick answer and that there is no proper debate of the issues. I have to say I totally agree with that view. It is about time that we do politics in a different way and make our parliament more accountable to the people that send us there. This will be a major issue for me if I am returned to the next Dail.