Enda Kenny has at last opened his car park for dangerous vehicles. And on Saturday afternoon, he got one of the most dangerous political piles safely off the highway and successfully parked out of harm's way.
Yes indeed, showing all his 40 years of political sagacity, Enda Kenny has grounds to calculate that he will not have to sweat too much over that bundle of trouble again in his political lifetime. Finding a remedy for our 33-year-old periodic war over the 'A-word' - abortion - is really a matter for his successor.
The Gaelic term is "méar-fhadchas" - the ability to put nasties on the long finger. Successful politicians rarely have short fingers.
So, this one follows a time-honoured formula of study, report, committee hearings and full debate, perhaps eventually followed by action. In this case, it's to be a Citizens' Assembly, followed by deliberations by an Oireachtas committee, a full Dáil and Seanad debate, and most probably a referendum vote. At kindest estimate, we are talking about the latter half of 2018, some two years hence, before we have another abortion referendum.
We can safely conclude that Mr Kenny will not be in Government Buildings by then. It is conceivable that Fine Gael may still be nominally heading this odd minority Coalition. But you would not put the house on that prospect.
This Citizens' Assembly is a novel development, though modelled on the Constitutional Convention which operated from 2012-2014. That operation will be remembered for the same-sex marriage referendum of May 2015.
Opponents of change to the Eighth Amendment - which protects the right to life of the unborn while also recognising the obligation to defend the life of the expectant mother - see this Citizens' Assembly as setting us on a path to undo that provision. Others, including this writer, deemed that we already have a citizens' assembly of sorts, called Dáil Éireann.
But there are good arguments for the new arrangement and, at all events, the new process is now up and running. So, it is a fait accompli.
It is fair to conclude that we have dealt very badly with this most difficult issue. When it landed on us in autumn 1983, I was working for a local newspaper in Limerick and I have bitter memories about what passed for debate.
Historian Diarmaid Ferriter has dubbed the so-called debate on the issue as "one of the most poisonous witnessed in 20th-century Ireland". There were nasty, personalised attacks on both sides.
This new process cost €200,000 to set up and there is provision for a further €400,000 to be spent on it next year. It is not huge money in a country which turns over €60bn in public expenditure in an average year. Let us hope it is money well spent.
The 99 members, headed by Supreme Court Judge Mary Laffoy, will not receive payment but will have accommodation and subsistence costs paid. Chosen by the Red C polling company according to age, gender and region, they will begin work next month at the aptly-named Grand Hotel Malahide for 10 weekends.
It was interesting to note that the potential impact of social media has already been discussed. Twitter (the company), which actually campaigned in favour of same-sex marriage 18 months ago, has publicly said it will sit this one out.
Ms Justice Laffoy advised the members to keep in mind their special deliberative role when referring to social media.
Already, there have been allegations that one assembly member had revealed a particular view on the issue on social media. If that, or any other eventuality, leads to the need for personnel changes, then there are a total of 99 "shadows" or substitutes to be called on to fill any gaps.
Of course, just because the issue is "parked," does not mean it will disappear from the political agenda. The Anti-Austerity Alliance People Before Profit (AAA-PBP) has it back on the Dáil agenda for later this month. This could renew tensions with the Independent Alliance's ministerial team who could not support Fine Gael in shooting down a similar motion some weeks ago. Ministers Shane Ross and Finian McGrath may not be able to vote against this AAA-PBP initiative, which is designed to keep the issue in the public eye.
The other Independent Minister, Katherine Zappone, who has taken a strident stance in favour of change, has already signalled that she will wait out the process in the Programme for Government agreed on May 6 last. She will wait for the Citizens' Assembly verdict.
It is all less than ideal for the Taoiseach and Fine Gael. But they can just put it on the list of other less-than-ideal things and get on with it.
The whole idea is pretty novel in global terms. Professor David Farrell of UCD, who is one of a number of advisers to the assembly, told members on Saturday there were just four such fora in the world, with others in Canada and Netherlands. Prof Farrell said the members were not obliged to recommend change in the matters they are considering. The assembly is also tasked with considering fixed-term parliaments, an ageing population, how referendums are run, and climate change. But members are asked to give the abortion issue priority and a referendum is likely. Ultimately, it will fall to Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil to jointly handle this and both will give members a free vote.
Irish Independent
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét