Government Assignment
Essay Title: Critically assess the declining power in Parliaments

GV1102 Assignment
Topic 2: Critically assess three reasons for the declining power of parliaments.
Introduction
Throughout the past few centuries, political structure and life has been changing ever so rapidly, so too has the power that parliaments possess. This decline in power is due to a number of reasons, but mainly through the power of the lay person. Nowadays, people outside of parliament have huge power and can have a rather large influence in decisions that are made within parliaments. People power aside, Government decisions are also influenced in other ways such as, mass media, European Union decisions and disciplined political parties. All of these issues dominate the Irish political landscape from week to week, and are becoming more prevalent since the Economic Crash of 2008/2009 and the IMF Bailout that followed it on that infamous November night of 2010. Since then, every move the Irish Government makes is not only being monitored by the Irish people but it is also scrutinised by the European Union and the huge influence of the media. Another issue which detracts from the power of parliaments is the workings of the traditional Political Party system, although politicians may sound to be very passionate on a subject, they may find it very hard to act on this unless their political party is in agreement. The idea of Diciplined Political Parties hasn’t gone away, in Ireland, England or in any other democracy. (222 words) Intrest Groups & Mass Media
According to Clive S. Thomas (2014) an “Interest group, also called special interest group or pressure group, any association of individuals or organizations, usually formally organized, that, on the basis of one or more shared concerns, attempts to influence public policy in its favour.” These groups use different forms to influence parliament decisions such as lobbying members of parliament, having mass gatherings of their members near where decisions are being made, bringing their case to public attention through the media and even setting up an office near the decision making areas. One of Irelands strongest and most active Interest Groups is the Irish Farmers Association. They often have marches in Dublin in order to bring their case to the Minister for Agriculture and have even set up an office in Brussels in order to influence the European Union’s agricultural policies.
G. Murphy (Winter, 2002 - 68) explains why the NFA (Now the IFA) was set up and what they stood for.

The NFA’s influence quickly spread after its formation in 1955 and it had become the organisation through which the discontent of Irish Farmers could be aired. It offered its members a national pressure group that would be representative of all farmers, although farmer unity was never achieved, and would concern itself with the way the Irish State intervened in the Agricultural economy generally. These interest groups have contributed significantly to the decline in power in Parliament. As their membership base can be so large, Members of Parliament find it very hard to ignore their requests for fear that they may lose a substantial amount of votes in their next election, for example, the American Association for Retired Persons (AARP) have a membership of over 37 million and constantly lobby against the United States Government for their needs.

Decision making by Parliaments can also be influenced through the different media channels. With the current influx of new technologies, news spreads rapidly. Current day politicians are constantly trying to get ahead each other, to either break good news or stem the flow of bad news instead of acting on their duties inside of their chambers. According to A. Heyward (2007-353) “political leaders increasingly wish to deal with the public via the media rather than indirectly through assemblies”. (379 words)
Disciplined Political Parties
The concept of mass membership political parties came about in the late 19th century. Today in the Irish political system, we have the two Civil War parties of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael along with others such as, Sinn Fein, Labour and the new start up’s like People before Profit, The Anti-Austerity Alliance and just this month Renua Ireland was set up. All of these parties have core values and policies, unfortunately for the purpose of an effective parliament, these values are rarely deviated from. Members find it very hard to bring their issues into the parliament if it goes against party policy and thus undermines the ability of individual members to represent constituents as trusted elected representatives. Furthermore, when it comes to a Parliamentary vote, members cannot go against their party due to the possibility of losing the party whip. Many current day politicians have been forced to vote against their own strong values due to this very reason. R. Cobden in A. Heyward (2007-352) is quoted saying in the House of Commons, “in this house I have heard many a speech that moved men to tears – but never one that turned a vote”. (198 Words)
Europe Influence
Certainly in Ireland, since our EU-IMF bailout in 2010, a lot of our government’s decision making was made under the watchful eye of the IMF & ECB. On that November night, in order to receive their €85 Billion bailout, Ireland had to agree to leave behind their boom policies of a construction led economy and head into a new world of exports and a global platform for foreign investment. This was the only way that the country and the Eurozone was going to survive. In order to repay this €85 Billion, the IMF laid out an austerity fuelled plan, one that was checked over regularly by IMF officials on visits to meet the Minister of Finance until they exited the bailout in 2014. One of the well-spoken issues that was part this EU-IMF Troika deal was the introduction of metered water charges into Irish homes. Although totally affecting the popularity of the current coalition government of Fine Gael/ Labour, it seems that they have no choice in the matter and have to proceed with the charge. According to A. Beasley(Nov 2014-Irish Times), “The new water plan is under examination by the commission and its statistical division to see whether the debts of Irish Water can continue to remain off the State’s balance sheet”. Although, Ireland have exited the bailout programme, their budget is still being assessed by the commission. This doesn’t take away the power of the parliament but still it reminds them that their every move is still being watched. In that same Irish times article, A Beasley mentions about the 2015 budget and that the commission may not be particularly happy with some items.
Although the commission believes the budget will be sufficient to meet the deficit targets, it may criticise Ireland for not using its strengthened fiscal position to pay down more debt and opting instead to cut income tax. (315 Words)

Conclusion

In conclusion, I do agree with the statement that power in Parliaments is in decline. The influence from the outside world is too great for it not to be. Just in this past few months we have seen the power of the Right to Water campaign seriously affecting Government popularity and has enforced them to reduce the charges. We have seen the Irish Cattle and Sheep farmers lobby politicians to help them to increase the prices that they receive from their beef. These two instances show the huge influence that lay people have over parliamentary decision making. Media, another common influence in the political system, just four years ago in our last Presidential Election, we saw Sean Gallagher’s campaign fall to pieces live on ‘The Frontline’ due to a ‘Tweet’ sent into the show from a source that wasn’t verified. It is issues like these that are affecting our political landscape and decision making process. Also in very recent times, we have seen the Disciplined Political Party issue crop up in our own Dáil Chamber where Labour TD Anne Ferris lost her party whip in voting against the Fatal Foetal Abnormality Bill that was brought forward by Clare Daly. In my opinion, it is down to the influence of Interest Groups, Mass Media, Disciplined Political Parties and external influences such as the European Union, that take away from the Power of the Parliament. The power of this system has been in steady decline for a vast number of years and personally, with new technologies and the fact that lay people can now see the power that they possess, that decline will continue for a long time to come. (279 Words)

Bibliography 1. Intrest Groups, Political Science Thomas, Clive S. (2010) Available at : http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/290136/interest-group 2. The Irish Government, the National Farmers Association, and the European Economic Community, 1955-1964 Murphy G New Hibernia Review / Iris Éireannach Nua Vol. 6, No. 4 (Winter, 2002), pp. 68-84 Available at: http://0-www.jstor.org.library.ucc.ie/stable/20557828?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=Irish&searchText=Farmers&searchText=Association&searchText=as&searchText=an&searchText=Interest&searchText=Group&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3DIrish%2BFarmers%2BAssociation%2Bas%2Ban%2BInterest%2BGroup%26amp%3Bprq%3DIrish%2BFarmers%2BAssociation%2Bas%2Ban%2BIntrest%2BGroup%26amp%3Bgroup%3Dnone%26amp%3Bwc%3Don%26amp%3Bso%3Drel%26amp%3Bhp%3D25%26amp%3Bacc%3Don%26amp%3Bfc%3Doff&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents (UCC Library) 3. Heywood A ‘Politics’ Fourth Edition (2007) Pg. 352-353 Palgrove Foundations

4. Beasley A. (2014) ‘Troika Raises Concerns of Irelands New Water Scheme’ Irish Times 21/11/2014