Thread by @attractaub

As an Irish citizen of a Constitutional Republic - I am yet again appalled this morning by what I witnessed this Government do to the #Oireachtas in the making of #legislation - facilitated today by @smytho a Minister of State in #DECC from @greenparty_ie - details below👇

On 14 June in 2nd stage debate on a bill on #CircularEconomy & #Mining the Minister flagged in less than 6 lines of words - a major scope change to the bill for "essential amendments on Committee Stage in this House to address some urgent matters concerning energy capacity" BUT👇

17 days later the Government:
😡Had not briefed even informally the JOC HLGH responsible for Planning or the JOC Env & Climate Action responsible for the EPA on the changes
😡Had not ensured a copy of the amendments was on the Oireachtas website for today's debate on them
AND👇

On top of ramming their own change through the Government further insulted Senators & the #Constitution by
😡Guillotining the debate on #CircularEconomy & #Mining Bill - so amendments Senators had tabled on matters directly relevant to the bill could not be considered at all
AND

The Gov refused a perfectly reasonable request from @LNBDublin to withdraw their amendment & retable it at Report stage after providing a proper briefing to Senators & to allow Senators take some input & advice from stakeholders on the change. But @smytho @greenparty_ie refused🧐

I used to think @greenparty_ie and in particular @EamonRyan really stood up for #transparency and #democracy - even when our views differed - but under this administration the #Seanad role in particular under the #Constitution is being compromised in principle - for example:

1. We see over & over Ministers come to the #Seanad unable to entertain amendments in Seanad stages of a bill as the bill will have been scheduled to complete on days without any intervening opportunity for a Minister to revert to cabinet to get authority to accept changes, and👇

2. We also see deadline for #Dáil amendments set before a bill has completed in the #Seanad. So it is clear the Government do not intend to allow the Seanad make any changes to the bill - even before seeing the amendments or hearing the debate.
So much for debate #democracy ☘️😳

3. We often see the scope of bills change massively with the Government introducing major changes to the bill with pages of complex amendments - even after a bill has finished in one house of the Oireachtas. This limits the time that other house has to properly scrutinise it 👇

And I could go on and on & on
As for the quality & issue of the legislation being enacted particularly that relating to the #environment - well that requires a tome not a tweet
I've huge concerns on un-caveated discretion being afforded to Ministers in bills being enacted ..and👇

Opportunities are being missed to correct issues - eg re the controversial changes today it seems already under s.181(2) of the PDA a Minister has total discretion to decide what constitutes an "emergency" which entitles him/her to bypass whole tracts of the #Planning Act.

It would seem sensible to delimit properly the extent of discretion a Minister has under s.181(2) PDA & provide for some oversight & safeguards around the use of such extraordinary powers & to ensure the powers aren't inappropriately exploited or challenged consequentially - IMHO

Complements to @LNBDublin & @SenLynnRuane for objecting to how these Government changes were introduced in #Seanad & for their constructive suggestions to facilitate proper scrutiny of them by the #Seanad. ..

In response to @lnbdublin constructive proposal to withdraw & retable the controversial changes at report stage thus facilitating some #Seanad scrutiny of them - it was shocking IMHO to hear @smytho response to the #Seanad - that they'd be considered again in the #Dail !😳

Ironic this happens on June 30, International Day of Parliamentarism - commemorating founding of the Inter-Parliamentary Union @IPUparliamentin an international organisation of national parliaments to promote democratic governance, accountability, & cooperation among its members