15 July 2022
ICCL and 22 other national organisations have today issued an open letter to the government and party leaders in the Oireachtas sounding the alarm that the ongoing abuse of parliamentary processes cannot continue. The letter expresses dissatisfaction with the practice whereby complex and extensive last-minute amendments have been added by government ministers and no time is afforded to the opposition to examine or discuss. This has meant that large sections of legislation are waved through with no scrutiny. This typically happens right before the summer and Christmas Dáil recess when the government is rushing to complete legislation.
The letter comes at the same time as a new European Commission report on the rule of law in Ireland has singled out the government for criticism for the exact same reason. The Commission noted that:
“discussions on new bills tend to be concentrated during short periods of time (in particular, during the two weeks before recesses), with negative consequences for proper parliamentary scrutiny.”
This report has also made a number of recommendations for reform of the legal system in Ireland to make justice more accessible and affordable, take steps to update anti-corruption legislation and end the “revolving door” relationship between government and business.
Commenting on the report today, ICCL’s Chief Executive Liam Herrick said;
“The report itself is very welcome and reflects many of the issues ICCL and our partners raised in our joint submission. It’s worth noting that this is the first year that the Commission have issued specific country recommendations to address deficiencies in the rule of law in Ireland so it’s significant that they have focused on the accessibility of justice and anti-corruption measures. It’s also worth noting that the Commission have asked the government to remove obstacles to civil society funding, something which the government were steadfastly against including in the recently passed Electoral Reform Bill.”
Speaking on the matter of the Commission’s criticism of the Government for rushing legislation, Mr. Herrick went on to say;
“It’s very embarrassing for the government that a Commission report like this would specifically mention the forcing through of legislation at the same time as it is blatantly happening in the Oireachtas. It’s simply unacceptable that the Dáil and the Seanad should be passing legislation with known errors and entire sections that haven’t been discussed because the government wants to either limit debate on contentious amendments, or have work finished by the recess. No-one is happy with this practice and the government now must take proper steps to ensure that this undemocratic practice doesn’t continue.”
ENDS/
Notes:
The open letter can be found here https://www.iccl.ie/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Open-Letter-on-Parliamentary-Procedures-July-15th-2022.pdf
The European Commission’s report (including Ireland’s country chapter) can be found here https://ec.europa.eu/info/publications/2022-rule-law-report-communication-and-country-chapters_en
For media queries: grace.tierney@iccl.ie