[fvc-wat-disc] Trudeau spending the day with the Irish Taoiseach

[Dave Arthur]

Just an addendum on the Republic of Ireland.
We were on a choir tour of parts of Ireland last summer and I felt our tour guides were pretty knowledgeable.
I asked them about Ireland’s STV voting system.
While they agreed people were happy with the system, when I asked if most citizens had a good understanding of exactly how STV works, they admitted many don’t.
While most of us will admit the workings of most PR systems are more complex than simple FPTP, that should not be an impediment to adopting PR.
Dave

From: Anita Nickerson 
Sent: Thursday, May 4, 2017 12:59 PM
To: FVC Waterloo Region Discussion 
Subject: Re: [fvc-wat-disc] Trudeau spending the day with the Irish Taoiseach

This is entertaining :). 

I'm working on a webinar for the end of May with a former Labour TD from Ireland. I talked to her for about half hour on the phone and the neatest thing is when you find out that all the good things you read and say about it works are actually how it works :)

Since I became fascinated with the idea of PR-STV about a year ago, I am a bit more aware of Ireland's politics. Last election they had an anomoly - time since 1989 that they were unable to put together a majority (coalition) government. About 60 days of negotiations (lots of drama, President threatening to call a new election which would have fixed nothing). 

In the end they have a minority coalition government with 4 Independents in the cabinet. For some reason I just love this because it's so OPPOSITE what we have here. Our Liberal MPs I think can't imagine what would happen if they had to work with THOSE people. This kind of situation would probably give some of them nightmares. Better have a LOOONG study on how PR affects the "governance ecosystem" - to use the phrase from the Liberal ERRE report. I think "governance ecosystem" is code for: "How in the hell could I work with MPs from those other parties?" 

And while this isn't normal for Ireland, it shows that politicians can get creative and compromise and cooperate when they're pretty much out of other options! 

Can you imagine 4 Independents in Cabinet here? (Or even a few parties?). 

How would the one-man decision making work then? Oh, it wouldn't.

How would the PMO Spin Machine work then? It wouldn't be quite so smooth or to the benefit of just one party.

With such a supposedly "unstable" goverment, how does anything get done now in Ireland? Check this out:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ireland-votes-divest-fossil-fuels-climate-change-world-first-country-parliament-renewable-energy-a7549121.html


And this bill was put forward and passed by a TD who ISN'T in even in the minority coalition government, despite the big party in the coalition government voting no.

Anita

On Thu, May 4, 2017 at 9:42 AM, Sharon Sommerville <sharonsommerville at gmail.com> wrote:

  Hi Stu, 

  Thanks for following up.


  I don't tweet, and not very conversant with how it works.   I would check the Government of Canada website info on MPs etc.   I am on my way out to an appointment with my mom or I would look it up and put it out there.


  Cheers,
  S.


  On Thu, May 4, 2017 at 9:17 AM, STUART CHANDLER <stuchandler43 at gmail.com> wrote:

    Great idea. Please provide the best twitter address to reach him. Thanks. Stu 
    Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone on the Rogers network.
          From: Sharon Sommerville
          Sent: Thursday, May 4, 2017 8:57 AM
          To: fvc-wat-disc at listserv.thinkers.org; FVCchapters at yahoogroups.com
          Reply To: FVC Waterloo Region Discussion
          Subject: [fvc-wat-disc] Trudeau spending the day with the Irish Taoiseach 


    Good Morning Everyone, 

    Between 11 a.m and 2 :30pm today, the PM is at various functions with the Irish Taoiseach (prime minister) Enda Kenny.  Does anyone follow the PM on twitter?  Can anyone tweet the PM to suggest that he ask Kenny about PR in Ireland  We should keep it up all day if possible.

    Have a great day,
    Sharon


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