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| Former school teacher Tony Killen TD |
The Irish TD's principal work was highlighted this week when Minister of State Tony Killeen disclosed that his constituency office mails more than 14,000 letters annually.
I have made the point previously that we have a 1920's system of governance, for a 21st century economy, powered by world class American companies.
A TD or aspiring one does not have to articulate a vision on the future of the country or economy, never mind having credible ideas on aspects of public policy. Former Speaker of the US Congress Tip O'Neill, once said that "all politics is local," and Ireland provides a text book example of the maxim. However, our system also shows the limits of parish-pump politics when the Buck Stops Nowhere syndrome means that the system of non-accountability stretches from top to bottom.
Besides not having to set forth policy ideas, the TD or aspiring one is not required to be articulate. Most members of Dáil Éireann are a cure for insomnia as they mumble from a written script. Joe Higgins and Pat Rabbitte stand apart from the legion of Ciceros. Some hardly say a word in the public chamber over a period of five years and the great unwashed are not bothered as long as they support the letter industry!
Until recent times, when TDs were given staff to do the donkey work, there was at least some constraint on the letter sending as they had to do the work themselves.
Parties produce headline aspirations and soundbites rather than detailed policies and there are no think-tanks to test ideas. In 1997, the then PD (Progressive Democrats) leader Mary Harney's reliance on soundbites on public service reform, tied her up in knots because the PDs did not have any detailed policy. The experience of losing seats prompted the party to abandon radicalism in the subsequent ten years.
The absence of serious policy preparation means that the consultancy industry has become almost a branch of government.
In an ideal world, the pointless letter writing would be reduced to a minimum; citizens bureaux would provide answers to issues such as pensions, tax etc that the staffs of Ministers and TDs direct to other public servants; the total membership of the Oireachtas (both Houses of Parliament) would be reduced from 216 members; attention would be given to the legislative role and the glacial pace of reform/response to a fast changing world, would be accelerated.
| |
Ireland |
New Zealand |
| Population |
4,234,925 (Apr 06) |
4,151,600 (Sept 06) |
| Workforce |
2,108,300 |
2,118,000 |
| Unemployment |
4.2% |
3.8% |
| Annual GDP Growth |
7.7% (Sept 06) |
1.4% (Sept 06) |
| Public Debt as % of GDP in 2006 |
23% |
20% |
| CPI 2006 |
4.9% |
2.6% |
| Numbers directly employed in Construction - Sept 2006 |
277,800* |
188,300 |
| Members of Parliament |
216 |
121 |
| Parliament Sitting Days in 2006 |
96 |
87 |
| Maximum number of continuous days Parliament closed in 2006 |
31 (Jan) |
86 (July-Sept) |
| Number of periods Parliament closed for period exceeding 31 days |
0 |
2 |
*There were 126,100 employed in the Irish Construction Sector in May 1998
Clientism and Gombeenism
When Dáil Éireann was established, its members were called Teachtaí Dála, which means messenger and the concentration on providing perceived favours for constituents has been dominant to this day. The system has been reinforced by the proportional representation system in multi-seat constituencies.
At the top of the pile, are the Taoiseach and Tánaiste who between them, have 16 full-time constituency individuals on the public payroll, scouring newspapers to identify constituents for letters of condolence on a death of a relative and doing a
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| Leinster House, Dublin, seat of the Irish Parliament |
pale imitation of a citizens' bureau by forwarding queries on such issues as planning to public agencies, which everyone in the know knows that it's a sham exercise but it produces an acknowledgement letter that can usefully be forwarded on to the constituent.
It's an industry in itself and Bertie Ahern is reported to have 30,000 letters issued from his constituency office annually.
The Irish Times has reported that Ministers are entitled to have between five and six full-time constituency staff working on their constituency business. The Taoiseach and Tánaiste are entitled to a number of extra staff on top of this figure.
These normally include two staff who are political appointees, and who are usually based in the Minister's constituency. They are employed for the duration of the Minister's term in office and include a personal assistant, who is paid about €56,000, and who normally accepts and makes representations on behalf of the Minister. A constituency secretary, earning about €40,000, is also usually employed in the constituency office. In addition, a number of full-time departmental staff are assigned to constituency work in the Minister's private office. They are mostly at the clerical officer grade.
Various expenses relating to the operation of the constituency office of a Minister are also paid for by the department, including overtime and travel.
According to figures supplied in parliamentary questions last week, the 15 Cabinet members employed 84 staff between them for constituency work.
The highest number of staff, nine in total, were in Mr Ahern's office at an annual cost of €290,000. Tánaiste Michael McDowell has seven staff in his constituency office, while the remaining Ministers employ between four and six staff each on constituency matters.
The total cost of the constituency staff for the Cabinet is about €2.7 million. The 17 Ministers of State employ 145 constituency staff between them, at a cost of €2.4 million. Most junior ministers employ a personal assistant, a secretarial assistant, and between one and two clerical staff, who are full-time civil servants.
The newspaper says that resources that TDs have for constituency work have also increased significantly in recent years. Many TDs now employ both a secretarial assistant and a parliamentary assistant, paid for by the Oireachtas. Many TDs have chosen to locate these staff in their constituency office to work mainly on constituency issues.
Such TDs do not see themselves as national legislators.
TDs pay has risen 120% since 1997 compared with a 60% rise in the average industrial wage. Politicians get 50% of salary as a pension after 20 years while most private sector workers have no occupational pensions.
The Sunday Independent says in respect of 2006 expenses, topping the list was Fianna Fail Tipperary South Deputy Noel Davern, with €85,998.41 for the year; followed closely by two Fine Gael TDs Dinny McGinley (Donegal North West), who claimed €85,961.91, and John Deasy (Waterford), who took home €85,954.66.
Davern has uttered fewer than 300 words, the equivalent of 90 seconds’ speech, in the Dáil since 2002, according to a study carried out by The Sunday Times.
Some 18 Dublin-based members of the Dail claimed more than €20,000 in travel expenses, easily eclipsing many of their country counterparts. The highest claimant in Dublin is the outgoing Fianna Fail TD Jim Glennon, who claimed €38,139 (20% above the average industrial wage) in travel allowances during the 12-month period, meaning he earned more than many of his country colleagues.
He said: "I have the highest because I live the furthest from the Dail of the Dublin TDs [Glennon lives in Skerries]. Some of that amount comes from expenses left over from last year.
"To counter that, I have amounted a high deficit of almost €16,000 on rent for my constituency office and almost €10,000 on my phone, which I have to look at covering myself."
There is an alternative
In his paper, Dr Frank Barry says that a number of countries, and not just those new to parliamentary democracy, have changed their electoral systems in recent times. Most – including Italy, Japan and New Zealand for example – have switched to "mixed systems" of the German type, which combine national lists (where political parties offer lists of the most capable people willing to serve) alongside constituency representation. This would dilute the stranglehold of localism on the system and allow governments to devote more attention to difficult longer-term issues.
The final report of the Constitution Review Group (1996) chaired by Dr T.K. Whitaker cautioned that the present PR-STV (Single Transferable Vote) has had popular support and should not be changed without careful advance assessment of the possible effects. If a change were to be made, it went on however, "…the introduction of a PR-list or AMS (the additional member system, referred to above as the mixed system) would satisfy more of the relevant criteria than a move to a non-PR system" such as that of the UK, an option already rejected by the Irish electorate in the referendums of 1959 and 1968.
We don't need a parliament of technocrats but there is certainly a dearth of individuals with skills that could be usefully deployed in a national parliament but irrespective of the attractiveness of pay and benefits, the "messenger-boy" syndrome is a huge deterrence.
Comparing Ireland and New Zealand
Ireland and New Zealand understandably adopted the British parliamentary system but in 1950, the latter abolished its Upper House and now has a unicameral system with 121 members compared with 216 national parliamentarians in Ireland.
We have a similar level of population as New Zealand but it has a much bigger land mass to Ireland's.
In 2006, with the exception of the month of January, the New Zealand Parliament held public sittings throughout the year. In Ireland, the Lower House, Dáil Éireann, was shut for up to three months in the period July-September, shut down for a mid-term break, the week of St. Patrick's Day, three weeks at Easter and six weeks from mid-December.
It takes years in Ireland for long-overdue reform to be given legislative attention and claims that Committee work progresses when the Oireachtas is shut down, do nothing to negate what is so self-evident.
