The Citizens’ Assembly
There is a thing here in Ireland called the Citizens’ Assembly.
As far as I can gather, it is supposed to be a sop to the general public to give them the illusion that they have a say in politics. I always thought that was the point of democracy but apparently I’m wrong. To further prove how wrong I am about democracy, the Citizens’ Assembly consists of a hundred people picked at random by an opinion poll company.
So now we have a group of people who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time making suggestions about how the country is run.
To confuse matters even further, it seems that they have been given a specific list of items to decide upon.
- The Eighth Amendment to the Constitution.
- The Challenges and Opportunities of an Ageing Population.
- Fixed Term Parliaments.
- Manner in which Referenda are held.
- Making Ireland a Leader in Tackling Climate Change.
These are the vital issues that a random sample of hand picked people are supposed to discuss.
They are currently working on the first one – the Eighth Amendment. For those of a foreign persuasion, this is the article in the constitution that concerns abortion, which is a fairly emotive topic. Now by my way of thinking, this is a medical matter involving the woman [it’s usually a woman] and her medical advisers, but this being Ireland, a small group of unqualified faceless people have been given the task of deciding her future. Basically the outcome of their deliberations will just decide whether a woman can have an abortion here or will have to travel to the UK instead. Yes – it is that insane.
I can’t wait to see what these people are going to decide when it comes to the “Challenges and Opportunities of an Ageing Population”. Send us all back to work? Send us to the gas chambers? What the fuck is there to decide in the first place?
To pile comedy on top of farce, these people are only there in some kind of advisory capacity. Presumably they will act as a buffer so that if their recommendations turn out to be a disaster, the gubmint can blame them.
The whole exercise puts me in mind of one of those toy dashboards and steering wheels that clip onto the back of a car seat to give the child in the back the illusion he is driving the car.
A massive waste of time and tax payers’ money.
The Citizen’s Assembly
99 citizens over several months hearing expert witnesses and scrutinising a few thousand documents, then voting – twelve members of the Order of Druids might as well assemble on the Hill of Tara and listen to harp music and perform some druidic incantations, then urge that the country vote for the Brehon laws and zero VAT on magic. Meanwhile, we have Brexit, patients sleeping on trolleys, the Healy-Raes in Kerry defying the alleged causes of climate change, the intractability of how to to modernise water supply without household charges, and government unwilling to legalise medicinal use of cannabis. I think I’ll plant some parsely in the garden: seems straightforward and I can use it in anything except 99er ice cream cones.
Talk about rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic! Is it any wonder I have zero tolerance or regard for politicians?
” toy dashboards and steering wheels that clip onto the back of a car seat to give the child in the back the illusion he is driving the car. ”
I’m too tight to buy 2 yr old Granddaughter any more plastic crap so I just plunk her in the front seat of my car (stationary I hasten to add) and let her get on with it. She loves that. Only problem is she isn’t allowed a cigarette while she does so, I kid you not- that’s law here. So she has to ‘pretend to be ‘Opa’ (Granddad) driving’ with a one of her wooden dowel ‘men’ in her gob.
We have the same law. I am forever telling the 12 year old Granddaughter to stab out her fag before getting into the car. A right pain in the hole.
Foolish me thought that our elected and publicly stipended politicians were our Citizens’ Assembly!!
It’s quite simple really. We elect politicians to represent us. They then use a firm to select 99 people at random who then make decisions which are presented to the politicians who then decide what to do with them. It’s called “deniable responsibility” or “kicking the can down the road”.
5. Making Ireland a Leader in Tackling Climate Change.
Subtitled: ‘Taking Ireland back to the Middle Ages before the rest of the world gets there’.
At least they haven’t included “Making Ireland a World Leader in the Nanny State League”?
*MS Paperclip appears* “It looks like you’ve posted a post with the word ‘yet’ missing. Would you like some help with that or advice on how to stop smoking or on getting your 5 day?”
Don’t tell me that fucking little poncey paperclip is still doing the rounds?
Yet?
Let’s start a rumour… all party committees and talking shops are the cause of global warming! QED
This sounds suspiciously like it’s run by or backed by dodgy left wing Alinskyite organisations similar to Britain’s ‘Citizens UK’ group who run ‘citizens commissions’ that are stuffed full of middle class Lefties. open borders types, environmental obsessives and Islamic grievance mongers. For more on Citizens UK see my post here
http://www.fahrenheit211.net/2017/02/15/citizens-uk-working-against-the-real-british-common-good-working-against-the-rest-of-us/
Welcome Fahrenheit211! [Is that really the boiling point of piss?] The idea of our little happy band of campers is that they are chosen as a representative group of the population as a whole, and as such were chosen by a polling company. I wonder which one of them represents smoking, politician hating, libertarian pensioners who live up the mountains?
Oh dear they seem to have come up with a recommendation that will scare the shit out of most of our politicians.
This is where they fall back on the “advisory” stance. Now we have months ahead of Opus Dei and Iona Institute clogging up the airwaves, begging politicians to see the light and ignore the Assembly.
Abortion is a devise topic. People usually change the subject after I announce I support post birth abortion through at least the 18th year if not 21st, 25th, or 30th if they are not yet out of the house by then.
Abortion definitely should be allowed up to 18 years. After that age, just change the locks.
The upper age limit should be in the 50’s if they show any signs of going into politics.