The role of the Presidency in Ireland

by planetparker

I believe we should have a debate about the role of the president. We should have had this debate long ago, and coming up to a presidential election is hardly opportune. It’s like the soul-searching that accompanies senate elections and which crops up the regularity of the story about Red Ken’s vasectomy.

 

The role of the president is enshrined in our constitution, a d0cument written in 1937. Admittedly it provided for a democratic form of government (sort of), no little achievement given that at the time of writing there were many amongst Ireland’s elite, both lay and clerical, who were more sympathetic to the ideals of Mussolini and Hitler. At the time the latter was drawing up his plans for world domination, the former was safely ensconced in the sovereign territory of Ethiopia, and General Franco’s forces were engaged on their campaign of rapine and pillage in Spain.

 But the constitution only provides for quasi democracy. This is clearly evident in the case of nominations for the president. To get on the ballot paper requires the support of twenty members of the Oireachtas OR four county councils. These are mostly elected by the people, but hardly ever at a time near to the presidential election. It is at best an indirect form of democracy. Furthermore, some members of the Seanad are appointed by the Prime Minister, not elected by the restricted Seanad electorate, while others may owe their membership to the death or resignation of a colleague. This holds true of County Councils, where such co-options are made by the party or parties in control, not according to the party background of the person in whose room the co-option in being made.  The will of the electorate may be openly flouted, as those appointed or co-opted have already been given the thumbs-down at the most recent elections.

 We have a form of controlled democracy, where the big political parties have an automatic “by” into the nomination process, and where it is difficult, though not impossible, for an independent to enter. Various opinion polls (not the same as an election granted) have found that the electorate’s preferred candidate for president was Senator David Norris. Even prior to the most recent controversy, he was having difficulty in gaining a nomination. Whatever he did or didn’t do should have been judged by the electorate, not by The Sunday Independent or a couple of independent TDs who obviously got cold feet about backing an openly gay candidate.

 If we want to make the office of president more relevant to the Irish people we should change the constitution to allow for nomination by certain approved bodies like professional and sporting organisations, trades unions and charities to name a few. (but not political parties). Alternatively a person could gain entry onto the ballot paper by collecting a set number of signatures.