POLITICAL REFORM:THE PARTIES should address political reform in a "collegial spirit" rather than by point-scoring, according to the founders of the website Reformcard.com.
Joe Curtin of the organisation said there was “no panacea” for political reform. “There’s no cure-all.”
What was required was a broad reform agenda, he said, corresponding to five areas on which the parties were scored by a group of political scientists and academics – legislative, electoral, open government, local government and the public sector.
Yesterday the organisation published scores to take into account newer policy documents. Fine Gael scored 74 per cent; Fianna Fáil 58 per cent; Green Party 68 per cent; Labour Party 68 per cent and Sinn Féin 51 per cent.
Dr Jane Suiter, political analyst at University College Cork, noted Sinn Féin had almost doubled its score since ratings were published earlier this month. She said the party was “very strong” on issues such as emigrant voting and bringing more young people and women into politics. It also included information on Oireachtas reform.
Fianna Fáil had not produced a document on local government reform and was “particularly weak” in this area, although a document was expected shortly.
The Green Party’s score had increased due to strong proposals on open government, lobbyists, freedom of information and reform of party funding. Labour’s result remained the same (68 per cent). They were strong on open government and reforming the public sector.
Fine Gael increased their rate due to more proposals on getting citizens more involved in local democracy.