Ireland's politicians are under increased scrutiny from today after a new watchdog known as the Democracy Commission was formally unveiled.
Drawn from a wide section of community and political activists, the Commission intends to monitor how well the political process serves the citizen.
The Commission is chaired by the general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Mr David Begg, and includes former Fine Gael deputy leader Mrs Nora Owen; Reid Professor of Law at Trinity College Ms Ivana Bacik; and the director of the Institute of Governance at Queen's University, Ms Elizabeth Meehan.
The former president and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs Mary Robinson, will be the Commission's international counsellor.
Speaking at the launch in the Mansion House in Dublin, Mr Begg said the Commission was needed because falling voter numbers and rising voter age was a crisis waiting to happen.
"We have a situation where whole sections of our society consider our current political system irrelevant to their lives. Only half of all under 25-year-olds who could vote did so in the last general election. While the rates of people living in poorer communities were reckoned to be even lower," Mr Begg said.
He warned politicians they could soon find their work subject to audit "with a view to establishing priorities for reform".
The Commission is the initiative of two think tanks: Dialogue for Democracy and Think Tank for Action on Social Change (TASC). TASC director Ms Paula Clancy said there is a danger that Irish democracy is becoming "more about form than substance - a game played out by elites and, unfortunately, too often for elites".
The Commission plans to consult with the citizenry through public meetings, liaison with community groups, citizens' juries and online forums.