A democratic deficit is considered to be occurring when ostensibly democratic organisations or institutions (particularly governments) are seen to be falling short of fulfilling the principles of democracy in their practises or operation. It is a defect that is usually associated with the European Union but a significant speech of the Ombudsman Emily O'Reilly, reported in today's Irish Times, draws attention to severe shortcomings at the level of the nation state. The full text of the speech can be read here.
O'Reilly is concerned that some public bodies shield themselves behind information technology in order to avoid more direct and personal contact with the public. It can indeed be very difficult to get actual people on the phone sometimes. She also says public access to information under the Freedom of Information Act has been "excessively curtailed" by the imposition of fees. "The FOI Act does not apply to, for example, the gardaí or to a wide range of State agencies - just two examples might be the VECs and the Adoption Authority of Ireland.
Apart from all that there are "the major difficulties faced both by my Office and by the citizen in dealing with the public service is the range and complexity of the service itself". O'Reilly is referring to the ad hoc proliferation of a plethora of organisations that are in some way public bodies and implement and oversee vital elements of public policy. This is a phenomenon that the think tank tasc highlighted in a report published last month entitled Outsourcing Government: public bodies and accountability. Almost 500 such public bodies were identified. Many such public bodies cover areas that in the past would have been considered the "core" work of government, such as implementing government policy, (the Health Service Executive), and managing the national debt, (The National Treasury Management Agency). They also cover many of the areas of crucial infrastructure - the National Roads Authority, and the Public Transport Forum - and public utilities including the ESB, Aer Lingus, CIÉ, Iarnród Éireann and An Post.
In the past many of these functions were carried out directly, and often time very badly, by central government departments. Is anyone old enough to remember the Department of Posts and Telegraphs? But the activities of those carrying out such vital work was at least nominally subject to the scrutiny of the legislature. Dáil Deputies were not particularly involved in parliamentary oversight and accountability and their only interest was in putting down written parliamentary questions to the relevant minister to deal with particular constituency matters picked up in their 'clinics'. Nobody would want to return to that kind of system but there is something seriously amiss when there are so many important public public agencies that can evade parliamentary scrutiny altogether.
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