Dual Mandate

Our man in Havana

Has the dual mandate for Dail and European elections been abolished yet? I see plenty of MEPs running in this election. Are they allowed to hold both if elected to the Dail?

brianthebard

Thought it was councillor and TD that you couldn't do together?

DMC

I'm sure, like councillors, they will co-opt someone into the seat.

I wonder did Liam Aylward and Gay Mitchell get away with it, as they are standing down as TD's?

DMC

I knew I read it the other day...

http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1822078&issue_id=15573

Our man in Havana

Thanks for that DMC

The_Minister

That is brilliant, I always thought that the scrappign of the dual-mandate was a brilliant idea, but I never realised that it applied to MEP-TD combos. I don't think that you can be a good MEP and a good TD at the same time,, and I never liked the idea of people holding both seats. Scrapping the dual mandate is one of the best thing that has happened in recent times to our democracy.

Our man in Havana

Agreed.

Ian Paisley used to have a tripple mandate, MP, MEP and MLA all at the same time!

athtrasna

Each MEP already has a sub MEP - in the cases of the major parties, the sub MEPs were selected at the original selection conventions before the European elections in 2004. So let's say Simon Coveney gets re-elected, then his sub automatically replaces him.

The rule is you cannot be a TD and an MEP/Councillor so these roles have to be relinquished on election to the Dail.

DMC

What will be interesting in 2 years time will be the effect of the dual mandate law on who runs for Europe.

Will we see unelected candidates or TD's who have lost their seats from this general election get a ticket to Strasbourg or will we see more county councillors get put up to a provincial profile, in the hope they can get a Dail seat next time? We certainly won't see any sitting TD's running for Europe again. In a tight numbers game in the Dáil (which will be the case at this general election), no one will be allowed to cause a by-election.

You can thank Noel Dempsey for proposing this law which was unpopular within a lot of parties in the Dail.

Our man in Havana

It is strange that Co-option is allowed for the replacement of MEPs.

DMC

Bond-007 wrote:

It is strange that Co-option is allowed for the replacement of MEPs.

There are no such things as by-elections to Europe.

Our man in Havana

DMC wrote:

There are no such things as by-elections to Europe.

But they would be so much fun.

DMC

And a waste of money. Say if Mary McGuinness gets elected in Louth, and a by-election is called for her MEP seat. We'd have to get the whole of the Ireland East Euro constituency (effectively Leinster without Dublin) to vote. Ballot boxes, polling stations, more election literature through our boxes...

I'm all for elections, but I can see that European by-elections are a non-runner!

The_Minister

DMC wrote:

You can thank Noel Dempsey for proposing this law which was unpopular within a lot of parties in the Dail.

*Cough* PD policy *Cough*
Well done on Dempsy for bringing it in. Who opposed the move?

DMC

Dempsey proposed it in the 28th Dail as Environment minister, when FF and PD had the support of Jackie Healy-Rae, Mildred Fox and co. They scuppered it. Ultimately, Martin Cullen brought it in in the 29th Dail when he was Environment.

Dalfiatach

DMC wrote:

Ultimately, Martin Cullen brought it in in the 29th Dail when he was Environment.

Martin Cullen did something right? :eek: