We are entering the pre-election phase, right enough. With a general election due in or before March 2025 and most speculation (and it is only that, mind) pointing towards a contest this time next year, probably in the wake of another giveaway budget, the parties are increasingly focusing all their energies on preparations. The work of identifying candidates, considering strategies, testing and refining messages and all the rest of the multifaceted business of getting a campaign moving is well under way. It will assume greater and greater importance as the clock inexorably ticks down.
Governments are always pummelled by events and the responsibilities that come with office. But they retain significant political advantages, too: they control the timetable and they have the power of action, the budget being the most obvious. Any government seeking re-election will try to influence events to its advantage as an election approaches.
In the final year of an administration, ministers often look to their legacies. It is also an opportunity to push through decisions and initiatives that might have little political payback – or even be unpopular – but are worth doing all the same. Good government is hard. Sometimes taking the right decision for the country in the long-term can have adverse political consequences in the short-term. But here are five things that the Government should do before it leaves office.
1. Start the Covid inquiry
Proposals are due soon on holding some form of an inquiry into the State’s handling of the pandemic. Then again, don’t hold your breath – proposals have been due soon for over a year. Clearly, some people aren’t too enthusiastic about the idea – possibly watching how the British inquiry is proving to be excruciatingly embarrassing for some of the people involved. But their objections should be overruled and the inquiry should proceed. We don’t necessarily have to point fingers at people, but we do have to evaluate the State’s response. In particular, we need to learn if the extensive lockdowns were the right thing to do. Of course, this is hindsight – but that’s how we learn. The future may bring another pandemic. It would be crazy not to learn from the last one.
2. Reform the Seanad
Following a judgment of the Supreme Court, the Government has to propose changes to the university panels which elect six of the 60 senators. There are currently three senators elected by the graduates of Trinity and three from the old National University of Ireland colleges – and zero from any of the other, newer universities and colleges. This has always been a political injustice – now it is a legal imperative. The Government should use the opportunity to reform the entire system, ending the party stitch-up of the panels elected by councillors. There are various plans on the shelf. Time to do it.
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3. Buy a few government jets
Successive Governments have been so terrified of a populist backlash that they shied away from providing a means of transport to get themselves back and forth to Brussels and elsewhere. This is ridiculous. The current government planes are completely unreliable and most transport is via Aer Lingus or Ryanair. Most sensible people will accept that having a government jet is not a luxury, it is a necessity. Before it leaves office the Government should buy three new planes. That way, the next Government could cancel one of them if it wanted to look frugal.
4. Fix the licence fee
RTÉ is in crisis and it needs significant reform. That might be the easy bit. It also needs lower costs, better standards and a clearer sense of what public service broadcasting is. All that will be harder. And when it has done all that, RTÉ will still need more money from the public purse. That will probably have to come from a new household charge to replace the television licence fee. It should be generally applied, impossible to dodge and its proceeds transparently available for all public service journalism. Introducing a new charge, even while simultaneously getting rid of an old one, might not be popular, but the alternative – having RTÉ beholden to future governments for money on an annual basis – is much worse. Leo Varadkar has said the Government deal with the issue next year. Let’s see if they bite the bullet.
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5. Strengthen our institutions
The time to fix the roof is before it rains. Ireland is a stable and settled parliamentary democracy and has been for a long time. But that shouldn’t be taken for granted. Liberal democracy is under stress in many places – including in places that have served as its cradles. The Government should quickly take steps to strengthen the institutions that scaffold, support and secure our democracy. It should open up Leinster House to greater public access. Yes, significantly enhanced security would be needed. That would be worth it. Let more people see our parliament working – it might also improve the standard of what goes on there. Ditto with the Oireachtas television service: more of it, please. Extend the Freedom of Information Act to areas not covered by its provisions – including Áras an Uachtaráin, as the presidency slides towards a more political role.
While they’re at it, talk to the people who lead or know the other institutions – the courts and judiciary, the Civil Service, the media, universities and the think tanks – and ask them to identify one change that would help strengthen their role in supporting our democracy. And then do it. Finally, the Government should reinvigorate efforts to place Irish people in key EU institutions, especially the European Commission.
It’s very likely that none of these suggestions would win any votes. But they are, I think, in the national interest. As ministers look forward either timorously or hopefully towards an election, they might think of that the odd time, too.