Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin today blamed wider society for a “lazy” consensus over how the country was run during recent years.
Insisting Brian Cowen and Bertie Ahern were not culpable either, he defended his right to call for radical political reform as he prepared to leave government after 14 years.
Mr Martin said the way Dáil business is carried out is 'ridiculous' and the current system of appointing TDs to the Cabinet was not in the interest of the country.
But he suggested he was not in a position to make any changes to how the Oireachtas worked while a senior Cabinet member for more than decade.
"As a new party political leader I'm fully entitled to bring forward radical political reform proposals," he said. "As a leader you are in a different position than as a member of a frontbench or a Cabinet."
The Fianna Fáil leader said there was a wider consensus in society that the economy was going well and nobody challenged how things were being done. "The consensus in relation to the political system became lazy," he said.
On his own right to change his mind on key issues, Mr Martin added: "One is always evolving one's thinking, learning and reflecting on whether or not your political system is fit for purpose."
Fianna Fáil has called for what it brands a fundamental transformation of the Oireachtas with proposals that government ministers no longer serve as TDs during their time in Cabinet.
Mr Martin said future governments should also be allowed to appoint unelected people to top ministerial positions. Such a system was already in place in other countries as well as in the EU and it allowed parliaments to draw on more expertise from outside political parties, he said.
Mr Martin said too much of the reform debate is about "gimmicks which will have little or no real impact on how the business of politics is carried out". He said reducing the cost of politics is separate from reform. "Simply cutting numbers will just mean that we have fewer people doing effectively the same thing as before," he said.
PA