Time for a ‘stock-take’ within Leinster House
FOR years, there was a tiresome pre-holiday ritual at Leinster House each summer. Opposition TDs, holiday arrangements already made, fulminated about the long break, enforced by a majority government, as they lamented the neglect of national affairs. Then, that ritual over, all politicians headed off in the first days of July and returned in the final days of September. The Dáil time clock was perfunctorily and cynically punched for July and September.
This year, the Dáil breaks up on Thursday and TDs are set to return on Tuesday, September 18. It will seem a little long for many outside of politics – but it does not mean that politicians will be on holiday for all the time between now and mid-September.
At all events, in the modern political world, politicians don’t stay elected if they do not work hard. Like all other categories of worker, they are entitled to a holiday.
But the 158 TDs exit Leinster House this week with a deal more uncertainty surrounding our politics than usual and with the prospect of several elections in the air. We do not know if there will be a presidential election in the autumn and many politicians believe it is hard to see 2018 going off the calendar without a general election taking place.
Our national politics are in a period of significant transition, with serious questions about our capability to make important decisions on the allocation of scarce resources in a fair way for all our people.
The certainties of majority government have given way to a political mosaic which is slow and messy in delivering government. For now, we have lost the advantages of certainty associated with strong government and, would-be benefits of cross-party consensus are slow to materialise. This summer break is a good time to do a stock-take.
If we are to persist with so-called ‘new politics’, then everybody concerned needs to harden up and become more serious about delivering decisions more swiftly.
Voters too must weigh the advantages of a Dáil which is more diverse in its make-up against the benefits of more decisive government.