TALKING SHOP
Since election Enda Kenny’s coalition has talked about the highest number of Bills but passed the lowest number of Acts, proving ‘new politics’ is a...
CRITICISMS that the Dáil is becoming little more than a ‘talking shop’ are backed up by a new analysis of Oireachtas legislative records.
An Irish Mail on Sunday analysis of the first 14 months of the most recent four Dáils shows that this administration has discussed the highest number of Bills, but passed the lowest number of Acts.
The 32nd Dáil – led by a minorityFine Gael/Independent government – has a legislative conversion rate of 15%, talking about 163 Bills and passing just 24 since the 2016 general election.
That conversion rate is lower than the previous Fine Gael-Labour government’s rate of 44% and even lower than the last Fianna Fáil-led Dáil (2007-2011), which passed one in every two (50%) Bills into law.
The 31st Dáil (FG-Lab) saw 108 Bills introduced in the first 14 months of operations, and 48 Acts passed – while the 30th saw 58 bills introduced in the same timeframe, and 29 passed.
The 29th Dáil – led by a Fianna Fáil/Progressive Democrats coalition (2002-2007) – had the highest conversion rate, with almost four in every five (79%) Bills that came before the Oireachtas being passed into law. This represented 45 Acts passed, and 57 Bills introduced.
The current Oireachtas has introduced 163 Bills, more than the 115 generated by the 29th (57) and 30th dálaí (58) combined.
The figures for the first 14 months of each Dáil has been used to ensure a fair comparison, as the rate of legislation could have varied depending on the lifetime of the Oireachtas.
In relation to the current Dáil, the period examined covers the two months where the government was being formed. When sitting days are taken into consideration the current Dáil sat 24 days less than the previous Dáil during the same time period, sitting for a total of 121 days.
It’s worth noting that the 29th and 30th Dáils were formed just before the summer recess in their respective election years, cutting considerably the number of sitting days in those first few months of business.
Despite sitting for significantly fewer days however, both managed to introduce more legislation. The 29th Dáil – led by Bertie Ahern – introduced one Act for every 2.2 sitting days.
In contrast, the current government is passing one new Bill into law for every five days that it sits.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1’s Morning Ireland on Friday, Independent Transport Minister Shane Ross defended the Government’s lack of legislation, insisting the new slower process should be welcomed. ‘This Dáil is different,’ he said. ‘Because we are in a minority, we cannot pass Bills without the consent of others. That’s a good thing.’
However, despite leaping to the defence of new politics the Minister – who has yet to introduce a piece of legislation – admitted that he thought it would be easier to get laws passed.
But not everyone agrees with the extra layers of scrutiny that have come along with new politics.
When contacted by the MoS, Fianna Fáil senator Mark Daly, who previously referred to the Dáil as a ‘talking shop’, said new politics is ‘designed to fail’ as many Bills are being tied up at committee stage.
‘The problem is the government are log-jamming everything with this pre-legislative scrutiny… so essentially they’re killing it by committee. It’s a procedural way of killing bills,’ he said.
The MoS contacted the whips of the Government parties as well as their counterparts in Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin and Independents4Change. Only Sinn Féin responded.
Gerry Adams was critical of what he called a ‘do nothing’ government.
He said: ‘Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil call this “new politics”. There is nothing new or different about it. There are still chronic crises in housing, healthcare and transport.’
‘It’s a procedural way of killing Bills’