Sir, – Noel Whelan’s proposal (“Something all the political parties could agree on”, Opinion & Analysis, July 24th) that the Ceann Comhairle be elected by secret ballot is certainly worth considering, but his assertion that in our 2011 manifesto Labour promised to do just that is factually incorrect.
In 2011, Labour did put forward a comprehensive suite of proposals to reform our political system and public life. By any subjective analysis, it would have to be acknowledged that we have met just about all of those commitments, and I believe that we have Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin to thank for that.
For example, we promised to reverse the restrictions to freedom of information that Fianna Fáil had put in place, and we did that in the Freedom of Information Act 2014.
We promised to significantly reduce political donations and lower the threshold for disclosure of donations, and we did that in the Electoral (Amendment) (Political Funding) Act 2012.
We promised to regulate political lobbying, including ex-ministers and senior civil servants working as private lobbyists after leaving public service, and we did that in the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015
We promised a whistleblower’s law to protect those in the public and private sector who expose corruption or misconduct and we did that in the Protected Disclosure Act 2014.
We promised to establish the Constitutional Convention, set up an independent Fiscal Advisory Council, and extend the remit of the Ombudsman and we delivered on them all. The list goes on.
There’s little in the way of political credit or electoral gratitude for a party driving delivering on reforms like these, and that’s one thing. Being accused of breaking a promise we never made in the first place is another thing entirely. – Yours, etc,
JOANNA TUFFY TD,
Leinster House, Dublin 2.
Sir, – Make Mick Wallace the next ceann comhairle and watch the Oireachtas Report ratings soar! – Yours, etc,
JANE MURPHY,
Wexford.