Rushing legislation a 'serious and sustained abuse' of legislative process

The group says they have “serious concerns” about the manner in which certain complex Bills have been dealt with, including the Communications (Retention of Data Bill) (2022), the Electoral Reform Bill (2022), the Regulation of Providers of Building Works and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill (2022) and the Planning and Development, Maritime and Valuation (Amendment) Bill (2022).

They argue that in an effort to complete legislation before the summer recess, insufficient time has been allocated for the proper examination of Bills — a function which is the democratic prerogative of the Oireachtas.

“This was laid bare on Wednesday this week when a drafting error was discovered in the Electoral Reform Bill which could not be amended. This error was not spotted because the Seanad was not afforded adequate time to analyse the Government amendments before the debate was guillotined,” they said.

This week, the Government had scheduled six Bills for discussion in the Dáil and 10 in the Seanad. The equivalent figures for last week was seven and seven respectively.

“A number of these Bills have had committee, report and final stages merged into a single — and oftentimes guillotined — session. This renders the legislative process to be little more than a rubber-stamping exercise for Bills which the Government can progress without oversight,” they declared.

The signees of the open letter which was also sent to the leaders of all political parties said that aside from the rushed and truncated nature of the process, even more alarmingly, "we have seen the Government table extensive and complex last-minute amendments to legislation which leaves the Opposition with no time to engage".

“We have seen this with the Electoral Reform Bill and the Planning and Development, Maritime and Valuation (Amendment) Bill. It is extremely concerning that the Government sees fit to wave through amendments which have not been scrutinised by parliament or that time has not been allocated to discuss,” the letter states.

“This makes a mockery of the parliamentary process, sidelines the Opposition and general public and as a result is profoundly undemocratic. This is bad for democracy and undermines the ability of citizens and civil society to participate in the legislative process in any meaningful sense,” they said.

"It will also inevitably lead to errors, as has already been demonstrated with difficulties with the text of the Electoral Reform Bill this week.

“We ask that the Government gives serious consideration to how this situation can avoid being repeated every December and July as the Government seeks to rush to pass legislation before the recess and that they reflect on the impact that this behavior has on the quality of democracy that they are presiding over,” the letter concluded.

Those who penned the letter are: