http://hdl.handle.net/10468/210 2017-08-31T19:48:34Z http://hdl.handle.net/10468/4191 Democratic revolution? Evaluating the political and administrative reform landscape after the economic crisis Reidy, Theresa; Buckley, Fiona Upon winning the general election in February 2011, Taoiseach elect Enda Kenny spoke of a ‘democratic revolution’. Within weeks, a programme for government was agreed between Fine Gael and Labour, promising to ‘radically reform an out-dated system of administration’ and determining to ‘change’ and ‘renew’ the political system. Much was made of the new government’s political and administrative reform plans. But how many of these reform plans were delivered? How effective were these plans in bringing about change and renewal to a political and administrative system found seriously wanting as the financial crash unfolded? And as Ireland emerges from recession, has anything really changed? These are the questions that guide this collection of articles. This special issue brings together contributions from some of the most eminent scholars of Irish politics to assess the extent to which the promises of political and administrative reform were delivered in the years after 2011. In the next section, we provide an overview of the political reform debate that emerged prior to the 2011 election. We document the core features of the debate and highlight the main contributors. Following this, we provide an overview of each of the articles, drawing out their main themes and conclusions. In the final section, we review the political reform process in Ireland before concluding with an assessment of the ‘democratic revolution’. 2017-05-23T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10468/4194 Dáil reforms since 2011: Pathway to power for the 'puny' parliament? Lynch, Catherine; O'Malley, Eoin; Reidy, Theresa; Farrell, David M.; Suiter, Jane We know that the Dáil is dominated by the government. From 2010 to 2016 there was a clamour for change, which ultimately led to significant reforms of the Oireachtas, and specifically the Dáil. In this article we show that the basis for the weakness of the Dáil was the government’s control of the legislative agenda. This article tracks the changes that were made, and we make an early assessment of them. However, firm conclusions are difficult to draw because of the extent to which the strengthening of the Dáil is a function of the weak position of the current minority government. 2017-05-23T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10468/4193 The Irish legislative gender quota: The first election Brennan, Mary; Buckley, Fiona In 2012 legislative gender quotas were introduced as part of the Fine Gael/Labour coalition government’s political reform agenda. The legislation specifies that payments to political parties ‘shall be reduced by 50 per cent, unless at least 30 per cent of the candidates whose candidatures were authenticated by the qualified party at the preceding general election were women and at least 30 per cent were men’. The 30 per cent gender threshold came into effect at the 2016 general election. Research demonstrates that gender quotas work to increase women’s political descriptive representation, but to do so, political parties must engage with them in ‘goodwill’, be ‘well intentioned’ or place women in ‘winnable seats’. This article examines if this was the case at the 2016 general election. Using statistics, as well as drawing from interviews with party strategists, the article assesses the impact of gender quotas on women’s candidate selection and election. We conclude that parties did embrace the spirit of the gender quota law but resistance remains. 2017-05-23T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10468/4192 Reforming local government: Must it always be democracy versus efficiency? Quinlivan, Aodh The financial crisis from 2008 has had a profound impact on Irish local government. Councils were faced with a disastrous combination of factors - declining funding from central government, difficulties in collecting commercial rates as businesses struggled, and a drastic fall in revenue from development levies. Staffing levels in the local government sector were reduced by over 20 per cent, significantly more than the losses suffered by central government ministries and departments. Yet the financial crisis also offered an opportunity for reform and a fundamental reappraisal of subnational government in Ireland. A reform strategy produced in 2012 paved the way for the Local Government Reform Act, 2014. As a result of this legislation, the number of local authorities was reduced from 114 to 31 with the complete abolition of all town councils. The number of council seats also fell from 1,627 to 949. Using Scharpf’s dimensions of democratic legitimacy, this article assesses whether the focus of the 2014 reforms was on output legitimacy (efficiency and effectiveness) as opposed to input legitimacy (citizen integration and participation). 2017-05-23T00:00:00Z