Look at the state of our democratic health
Cowed parliament, a dominated media, an apathetic public: this is the state of our democracy, according to the Democracy Commission. Hilary Curley reports
Powerless local government, weakened accountability among public service agencies and control of the media by Independent Newspapers, all contribute to the unhealthy state of Irish democracy.
These were amongst the conclusions presented by the Democracy Commission in a set of briefing papers to a conference in Dublin on 29 June.
The Democracy Commission was set up to respond to the widespread concern about the erosion of democratic values, and is a cross-border initiative of the Dublin-based think tank TASC and the Belfast -based Democratic Dialogue.
The conference was a "consultative" conference for the Commission to get feedback on its briefing papers. It will launch its final report in October, which it intends to be a blueprint for the regeneration of democracy in Ireland.
Members of the Commission include Ivana Bacik, professor of law in Trinity College, Ruth Barrington, head of the Health and Research Policy Board, Mary Robinson, former president and UN commissioner on Human Rights, Donal Toolan, disability rights activitist and Elizabeth Meehan from Queens University. It is chaired by David Begg, the General Secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.
The Commission presented six themed briefing papers:
Representation
A political system needs to reflect the society in which it operates and yet in Ireland politicians generally are male, middle-aged and middle-class. This is in spite of the fact that 50 per cent of the population are female, a fifth of the population is aged between 18 and 30 years of age and only 15 per cent of the population come from the professional class.
"The Labour Party is the least representative of the young, not having a single TD aged 44 or under," the Commission document states. "Only six TDs in total aged 30 or under were elected in 2002, five of these are from the Fine Gael party".
Media
The importance of a free and diverse media is central to a healthy democratic society but the dominance of Independent Newspapers, capturing 80 per cent of the Irish print market, is worrying and an issue of "legitimate concern".
"We seem to be moving more towards the British model where Murdoch dominates everything. This is reflected in what is happening here with Independent Newspapers fully or partially owning 80 per cent of the Irish newspapers sold," said David Begg. "It has a massive influence and, as we have seen in the past, it is not shy about exercising it."
The Commission is also critical of the recent amendments to the Freedom of Information Act which has had the effect of restricting journalists' access to information about government activities. So much so, that journalistic requests for public records fell from almost 2,400 in 2003 to fewer than 900 in 2004.
Accountability
The increasing use of the private sector to provide essential services such as hospital and nursing home care, in the absence of adequate systems of regulation and protection of vulnerable patients, concerns the Democracy Commission. It questions who these people are accountable to and how this accountability is managed.
Over 1,000 public agencies operate throughout the country and how people are appointed to these boards is not always clear. The increase in the number of public agencies with appointed boards established to control the development of public policy and the spending of public money, has led to an overall weakening of accountability and transparency.
The Health Service Executive is a prime example of this. Ten regional health boards were replaced by an Authority whose members were all appointed by the Minister for Health and Children. The only line of accountability is to the Dáil, which the Democracy Commission states is among the weakest in any western democracy in its capacity to hold the government to account.
Local Government
"Irish local authorities play minor roles in health, education, public transport, and electricity and gas distribution and have no statutory input into policing matters," states the document on local government. Unlike other EU countries, these functions are carried out by state agencies with boards and top management appointed by the government, calling into question again the issue of democratic accountability.
But power cannot be devolved to local authorities without also providing them with the ability to generate revenue, that is, through a form of local taxation or through a share of national income tax.
"Devolving more power, including revenue-generating power, to the local authority is one recommendation that will almost definitely be included in our final report due to be published in October," said David Begg.
Participation
Many people are disconnected and disillusioned with politics and public affairs. This is evidenced in the declining rates of participation in election where turnout has dropped from 76 per cent in 1977 to 63 per cent in 2002.
Just over 40 per cent of young people aged 18 to 19 and 53 per cent of people aged between 20 and 24 said they voted in the 2002 general election. Most of these young people were turned off because of procedural obstacles, such as not having a polling card or not being registered, than for reasons of apathy or disillusionment.
The Commission are looking at the possibility of introducing a system of automatic registration of 18 year olds on their birthday as a way of increasing the voting turnout of this cohort.
Turnout for elections among the poorer urban areas has also reached an all time low. In Clondalkin and Mulhuddart, turnout for the 1999 elections did not even reach 30 per cent.
Citizenship Education
There is a need for education programmes around active citizenship encouraging people to participate in the political process, to take part in local community activities and to become aware of the importance of their contribution. The Commission is considering recommending that the subject of "active citizenship" be introduced into schools.