First let me declare my self interest. I intend to be a candidate in the next Senate elections so I had a particular interest in Enda Kenny’s intention to abolish the Senate. I think he is wrong for a number of reasons.
First of all it is a simple matter of democracy. Sure the Senate needs reforming but abolishing the Senate would mean that we would have one less institution for the expression of independent views and opinions. What we need is more democracy not less so if Enda Kenny wants to abolish the Senate does he have any proposals for another forum that would provide a platform for views that are independent of political parties?
Secondly it is clear that the Senate needs reform but this is no more true of the Senate than the Dáil. It is clear that both our major political institutions have failed to keep pace with the demands of a 21st century globalised and digital society and economy. The political and public administration systems of the state are essentially the same as when the state was founded in 1922. Both the Senate and the Dáil need to become more open, more efficient in the way they do their business and more reflective of the demographics of Irish society. If the institutions of the Oireachtas need reforming then we should start with the Dáil as that is the more important one.
Thirdly when I first heard Enda Kenny speak about this he suggested that one of the important reasons to abolish the Senate was the cost. It would save approximately €150 million. That is the price he puts on democracy. If he simply wants to save money then one of the things he could look at is the whole system of local government. There are county councils whose populations would not fill a stand in Croke Park and they have a whole sub-structure of VEC’s, library committees etc. Now I am all for more local democracy but why do some counties with tiny populations have a county council and suburbs of our major cities that would dwarf them do not. The county structure is a hang over from Elizabethan administration. Let’s keep the boundaries for cultural and historical reasons but let’s amalgamate all of the smaller ones into more administratively efficient and cost effective units with fewer councillors and at the same time hand over to them more power so that they do not have to be referring back to Dublin and the Department of the Environment all the time. How about that for a piece of political and cost saving reform Mr. Kenny?
Fourthly if Enda Kenny wanted to do something positive for the political institutions of the State one of the things he could do is amalgamate his party with Fianna Fáil and finally put an end to Civil War politics. After all there is no particular ideological difference between them. Their difference goes back to the sides they took in the Civil War and in some cases to personality and territorial disputes during the War of Independence. This split has given rise to a political system where party loyalty and political advantage is frequently put before the interests of the country as whole. Individuals of talent and ability have been marginalised by both major parties when they are in government because they were not party people. The converse is also true mediocre people have been promoted because they were loyal to the party. At least the Senate has a few truly independent voices with talent and ability that got there on their own merits without being party hacks.
Without reform the Senate has sat longer than the Dáil, had more real debate and defeated government Bills. All this suggests that it is more of a real political forum than the Dáil. Let’s build on this rather than go along with a headline grabbing suggestion that implies political reform without grasping some of the very stinging nettles that would bring real political reform
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Time to get rid of the Simon Community?
I recently attended the 40th Anniversary Commemoration of the setting up of the Dublin Simon Community in which I had a small part in founding. When I received my invitation I did not read it properly and assumed I was being invited to a 40th anniversary celebration and it occurred to me that there was nothing to celebrate. Why would you celebrate 40 years of homelessness and deprivation? Of course those sensible and caring people who now run the organisation had already thought of that so it was indeed a commemoration and not a celebration.
I cannot speak for everyone but certainly when I got involved 40years ago I never thought that 40 years later not only would there be a need for the Simon Community but there would never be a more crucial need. With Séamus O’Cinnéide I conducted the first census of people sleeping rough and homeless (we counted people living in hostels in the census) in Dublin City. I do not have it immediately to hand but there were roughly two hundred people counted. The surprising thing was that the biggest age cohort was the 15 to 20 age bracket. Most of the people sleeping rough or living in hostels had alcohol or psychiatric problems and most of them were over thirty five.
Forty years on the problem has become bigger and more complex. At first Simon offered soup and sandwiches now Simon offers a whole range of services from helping people sleeping rough to supporting them in jobs and accommodation.
My recollection of those early days is that there were not many people begging on the streets. I recently walked from Grafton Street to the ILAC Centre in Henry Street. I counted 23 people begging on the streets. Allowing that some of them maybe con artists and others may be professionals there nonetheless remains the truth that there are a lot more people on the streets than there were forty years ago. Walk around the centre of any of our bigger cities any night and you will find lots and lots of people sleeping in doorways and under benches. The problem was neither so obvious nor so extensive forty years ago.
Why is this when by any measure our society is much wealthier than it was forty years ago? In 1973 when we joined the EEC as it was our average income was about 65% of the EU average. Recently we were well over 100% and despite the recession we are still up there with the best of them. In the intervening period we have managed to do many things. We have become one of the most attractive locations for foreign investment in the EU because we have a well educated and trained population and we offer some fantastic tax incentives. Though unemployment is now about 12% it was at one point down to 4.5% and there are still millions of people working. We are developing our road network. You can travel from Dublin to Cork in about three hours. I could go on.
So why are there so many more people sleeping rough? Why has homelessness increased? Basically it is a matter of will. With all the wealth that became available to us we choose to use it to give tax breaks, create quangos, employ consultants and reward with high salaries those who were already doing well. Had we given homelessness the same priority that we have given to the failing banks or the building of the motorway network it could have been solved for a fraction of the cost years ago. There is no shortage of ideas. There are enough policies, people and organisations to solve the problem. It will not be solved overnight. There might be a recession now but no better time for planning for the future.
If the taoiseach cared as much about homeless people as he does about bankers and property developers there will be no need for a fiftieth commemoration of the Simon Community. So let’s start planning to get rid of the Simon as soon as possible.
I cannot speak for everyone but certainly when I got involved 40years ago I never thought that 40 years later not only would there be a need for the Simon Community but there would never be a more crucial need. With Séamus O’Cinnéide I conducted the first census of people sleeping rough and homeless (we counted people living in hostels in the census) in Dublin City. I do not have it immediately to hand but there were roughly two hundred people counted. The surprising thing was that the biggest age cohort was the 15 to 20 age bracket. Most of the people sleeping rough or living in hostels had alcohol or psychiatric problems and most of them were over thirty five.
Forty years on the problem has become bigger and more complex. At first Simon offered soup and sandwiches now Simon offers a whole range of services from helping people sleeping rough to supporting them in jobs and accommodation.
My recollection of those early days is that there were not many people begging on the streets. I recently walked from Grafton Street to the ILAC Centre in Henry Street. I counted 23 people begging on the streets. Allowing that some of them maybe con artists and others may be professionals there nonetheless remains the truth that there are a lot more people on the streets than there were forty years ago. Walk around the centre of any of our bigger cities any night and you will find lots and lots of people sleeping in doorways and under benches. The problem was neither so obvious nor so extensive forty years ago.
Why is this when by any measure our society is much wealthier than it was forty years ago? In 1973 when we joined the EEC as it was our average income was about 65% of the EU average. Recently we were well over 100% and despite the recession we are still up there with the best of them. In the intervening period we have managed to do many things. We have become one of the most attractive locations for foreign investment in the EU because we have a well educated and trained population and we offer some fantastic tax incentives. Though unemployment is now about 12% it was at one point down to 4.5% and there are still millions of people working. We are developing our road network. You can travel from Dublin to Cork in about three hours. I could go on.
So why are there so many more people sleeping rough? Why has homelessness increased? Basically it is a matter of will. With all the wealth that became available to us we choose to use it to give tax breaks, create quangos, employ consultants and reward with high salaries those who were already doing well. Had we given homelessness the same priority that we have given to the failing banks or the building of the motorway network it could have been solved for a fraction of the cost years ago. There is no shortage of ideas. There are enough policies, people and organisations to solve the problem. It will not be solved overnight. There might be a recession now but no better time for planning for the future.
If the taoiseach cared as much about homeless people as he does about bankers and property developers there will be no need for a fiftieth commemoration of the Simon Community. So let’s start planning to get rid of the Simon as soon as possible.
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