THE electoral system is outdated and in need of radical change, the Fianna Fail environment spokesman, Mr Noel Dempsey, said yesterday.
He was responding to an Irish Times report that the Government appointed Constitution Review Group favoured the retention of proportional representation for Dail elections.
Mr Dempsey called for major alterations in the system to ensure that Government was effective, efficient and responsive to the needs of the people.
It is clear for many years now that our system of government at local and national level is increasingly ineffective, perceived to be unresponsive to the needs of the public and is causing widespread cynicism among the public.
"The current systems are not conducive to ensuring the very best and most effective form of parliamentary democracy and scrutiny of the actions of government and its agencies.
"Additionally in an age when we place such emphasis on the need for equality and representativeness in our system it is clear that the current system is not capable of delivering this and needs to be changed," Mr Dempsey said.