Madam, - Deaglán De Bréadún is yet another commentator suggesting we should trim the number of TDs in Dáil Éireann (Opinion, December 29th). As evidence, he notes that we currently have 35 ministers and junior ministers, out of a coalition of just 84 current members.
I would suggest that we actually need to double, or even treble, the current size of the Dáil. As things stand, the promise of a very lucrative position for TDs who do exactly as they are told means that Government TDs never step out of line, and opposition TDs are simply an irrelevance as far as the Cabinet is concerned (Eamon Gilmore's comments on Lisbon are just the most recent evidence of this).
Decisions are made behind closed Cabinet doors, and sent down to the Dáil to be rubber-stamped under the glare of the Government Whip. Any passing resemblance to actual parliamentary democracy is purely cosmetic. When was the last time that Dáil Éireann actually passed a resolution that was opposed by the Cabinet?
A Dáil consisting of 500 or 600 members would be far less amenable to being bought off in this fashion. Expanding the number of TDs needn't involve an increase in costs: the current budget pays for hundreds of constituency staff, many of whom would make far better representatives than the TDs they currently work for. And many of them are quite familiar with the concept of a nine-to-five working day, and four to five weeks' holiday a year, rather than per session. - Yours, etc,