| You are here> Democratic Process > The Dáil & The Public Call General Elections |
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| The Dáil And The Public Call General Elections |
| by Damien Hughes, Fairocracy Editor // Published: December 21st 2010 // Last Modified: December 21st 2010 |
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| Under The Current Irish System: |
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| Only The Taoiseach Chooses When To Begin The Process Of Dissolving The Dáil, By Ordering TDs To Hold A Vote For Dissolution: |
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Legally - According to the constitution, on instruction from the Taoiseach, the President has the power to dissolve the Dáil, so that a general election can be held. If the Taoiseach has the support of the majority of the members of the Dáil through a vote, and he/she advises the President to dissolve the Dáil, the President must do so. If the Taoiseach does not have the support of the majority of the members of the Dáil, the President may refuse to the request from the Taoiseach to dissolve the Dáil, or alternatively, the President may order a general election, against the wishes of a majority of TDs.
In Practice - The Taoiseach is the only person in Ireland who can choose when to begin the process of calling a general election. The Taoiseach decides when a general election can be voted on, by TDs in the Dáil, and they do so. As the head of a government in power, the Taoiseach generally has a majority of TDs, so whenever he/she calls a vote on this matter, the government majority will generally win that vote. Telling the President to call an election is only a formality. To date, the President has never refused a dissolution. |
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| This Law Needs To Be Changed Because: |
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 It Is Totally Undemocratic, All TDs Should Be Allowed To Initiate A Vote In The Dáil.
Why should the Taoiseach be the only person in Ireland, to be allowed to initiate a vote in the Dáil, which could bring about a general election? Why shouldn't all TDs be allowed to initiate such a vote? The current Taoiseach received 19,102 first preference votes, from the 72,153 turnout in the Laois/Offaly constituency, during the 2007 general election. So on electing Brian Cowen as their first choice candidate, we could surmise that 19,102 voters have asked him, directly, to make those kinds of important decisions for them, in their best interests. The remainder of the 2,065,810 Irish voters who turned out for that general election, have asked other candidates to make those kinds of decisions for them. By telling all TDs that it is all of their job's to call a general election, they become more accountable to the public in general, because they will be expected to act more representatively of the public's wishes, and they simply cannot hide behind their leader's directives anymore, on this particular issue.
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NOTE 1: All of the figures quoted above are taken from the official government final tally's.
- Official 2007 General Election Results from the Irish Government website
http://www.oireachtas.ie/documents/publications/Electoral_Handbook1.pdf
(the Laois/Offaly constituency votes are on page 37, and the overall Irish turnout is on page 57) |
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 It Is Totally Undemocratic, The Public Should Be Able To Initiate A General Election Directly.
Along with all elected TDs having the right to initiate a general election vote, within the Dáil , the general public should also be allowed to do so directly. If a certain number of people of voting age - for example: one third of the total electorate - ask for a general election to be called, then going by the whole ethos behind democracy, a general election should be called. This will be done through a new 'Ongoing Public Voting System' (more information about that national online system soon). By giving ourselves the power to call elections, we will make all of our TDs more accountable to us, directly, because they will then know that we can call an election on them, at any time. This can only serve to make the system fairer and clearer for everyone.
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NOTE 1: That figure which I quote - 'one third of the electorate' - is just a rounded estimate of the type of number that I think is fair. This would have to be worked out democratically. But one method I would put forward, is to mathematically get an exact figure of the average number of votes that it would have taken, to have an overall majority of voters who turned out, in the last 5 or 10 Irish general elections.
I'm judging it roughly through these figures: If the average turnout is 66%, then 50% of the electorate who turns out to vote, will in fact be 'one third of the electorate'. The graph linked below shows the steady decline in voter turnout, between 1969 and 2002, from almost 80% to just above 60%. The 2007 election had a turnout of 67%.
- The Geography Of Irish Voter Turnout: A Case Study Of The 2002 General Election, by Adrian Kavanagh (Maynooth), Gerald Mills (UCD) and Richard Sinnott (UCD).
http://www.ucd.ie/gsi/pdf/37-2/turnout.pdf (see graph on 2nd page) |
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 This Is A Major Hole In Our Legislation, Which Needs To Be Closed.
Allowing just a single person to make this decision - when to call elections - could turn out, in the future, to be a much bigger issue than we may currently forsee, because to allow just one person the choice of calling an election, or not, is the exact rule which is used to keep many dictatorships in power, worldwide. I'm not saying that Ireland is a dictatorship, but if you look at that rule, at the very least, it leaves the door open for that kind of thing to happen in the future. Changing this current rule to allow both the public, and all TDs collectively, to call general elections, helps to spread that power out, in a logical and fair sense. |
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 Under The Fairocracy System: |
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| A General Election Will Be Called If Either Of The Following Take Place: |
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1- If A Majority TDs Vote In The Dáil To Hold A General Election
(this vote can be initiated by any TD) |
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2- If A Certain Number Of People Of Voting Age Ask For A General Election - For Example: One Third Of The Total Electorate
(done through the 'Ongoing Public Voting System') |
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All TDs should be allowed to initiate a Dáil vote, whether they are in power, or in opposition. We don't vote just one person into our parliament, to decide on all of our biggest issues. We vote 166 TDs to do just that, so let them all earn their respective salaries, by each being 100% accountable for every decision they make, including when we get to vote. TDs also need to know that we can call an election on them, at any time, so that they will begin to serve their people in a much more representative way. Plus, if the public feeling is very hostile towards a government, and if a certain number of people want a general election to be called, then it makes natural democratic sense for a general election to be called. Chances are, we would have had more elections at times when we actually wanted them, if this had been the case up to now, and therefore, people-orientated movements and ideals may have had more of an opportunity to take root in our system over recent decades. And looking at the bigger picture, if we, the people, can have full control over this particular fundamental aspect of our national governance - the timing of general elections - we can begin to attempt to change the political system itself, to benefit everybody equally. We also need full control over the timing of elections, to continually regulate the system properly over the long-term. |
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| Not Irish? |
Dáil = Main/Lower House Of Parliament
Seanad = Senate/Upper House Of Parliament
TD = Member Of Parliament
Taoiseach = Prime Minister
Tánaiste = Deputy Prime Minister
Ceann Comhairle = Speaker Of the House |
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