The incoming government will need a dramatic programme to develop the huge inadequacies in the State's systems and institutions of governance, the Attorney General, Mr Michael McDowell, said last night.
Mr McDowell said there were problems "right across the board" concerning the three arms of government mentioned in Article 6 of the Constitution - legislative, executive and judicial. "In these three spheres, we need a dramatic programme of development and renewal if we are to face into the 21st century as a competent, confident democracy." A national development plan for our "intellectual infrastructure", just as ambitious as that for our physical infrastructure, is needed, said Mr McDow- ell, who was speaking at the an- nual dinner of the Association of Patent and Trade Mark Agents.
The interaction of the Oireachtas with the EU, is "shamefully inadequate", he said. We have a cumbersome system of translating policy into law . "Most of the process is done in secret and is served up to the legislators in a way in which they are passive critics." While there has been the beginning of change in the form of the proposals for an Oireachtas Commission "the simple fact remains the legislative power of the Irish state is a malnourished, neglected child", said Mr McDow- ell, a general election candidate in Dublin South East.
"The governance deficit in the Oireachtas is huge. Its capacity to legislate effectively for a modern, dynamic Ireland within the EU is very poor compared with what might be." While the judiciary might be independent, he said, that does not mean that their activities should be a no-go area from the point of view of reform and modernisation.
He asked if the courts were organised in the most effective way and whether there should be more specialised courts or divisions within courts.
Some delay was inevitable in a formal system of justice, he said, but perhaps a much more effective system of case management should be considered.