MEDIA WATCH: Irish democracy is seriously flawed, believes Deaglán de Bréadún
There has been much talk in this election about our two-tier health service. But what about our two-tier democracy?
This was painfully obvious in media terms this week when RTÉ screened a series of party political broadcasts from small minority groups in advance of a debate between the big guns on Prime Time.
A young man from the Workers Party came on and read a script for one minute and 15 seconds. Then an Independent candidate for Dublin North-Central, Finian McGrath, read another script on behalf of the Independents' Health Alliance.
The Socialist Workers Party had a short video presentation.
The last of the four was John Lacken from the Christian Solidarity Party.
Five minutes, four broadcasts. That was our "fix" of non-mainstream views for the evening. It was a dispiriting example of the unfairness and imbalance of what passes for a democratic system in this State.
In the old days of the open-air rally and the after-Mass meeting, there was a more level playing pitch. But in an age where slick media presentation counts for so much, the parties with the money are the ones most likely to get the votes.
I had seen and heard little or nothing from these minority groups prior to their party political broadcasts. You don't see them on the TV panel discussions as a rule and they are rarely heard on the radio talk shows either.
No wonder so many of these programmes become dreary exercises in bickering. The excuse, of course, is that these parties don't represent enough voters.
But how can they win votes if they don't get a hearing? It is debatable if reading a script for just over a minute does you any good electorally. An RTÉ spokesman said that, because of cutbacks, the broadcasts have to be done in an automated, unmanned studio with no camera crew and no floor manager.
There was a glaring contrast when, some minutes later, we were treated to a studio debate on the crime and health issues between Fianna Fáil's Willie O'Dea and Alan Dukes of Fine Gael.
But we had already heard experts saying there was little difference between the two parties on these issues.
So despite the adversarial presentation, the FF-FG debate on Prime Time was between two parties who are at one in their centrist approach but have a continuing dispute about the detail.
RTÉ allocates time mainly on the basis of the number of first-preference votes in the last election. Vincent Browne argued on his radio show last week that it should be based on the number of candidates.
It is not just a question for RTE but for our entire system of government. An election every five years and five minutes of dissent do not constitute a meaningful democracy.