The general election campaign so far has been a bit of a yawn. The parties have pretty much stuck to the predictable issues like the economy, healthcare, crime, and so on. No one is really proposing anything radically new. They tweak a few things here and there, and then declare that they represent a totally different approach to the opposition. In a lot of ways this is a good thing. It means we have gradually converged on some governing policies that everyone generally agrees work, and the people are happy with. A long way from the titanic struggles of left and right that where each side had completly different ideas for how the country should be run.

It does make things a bit boring of course. Personally I think that is why voter turn out is declining. It’s not that “all the parties are the same” but rather that they have all agreed on what has to be done, so the differences between each government will be relatively small. I am all in favour of this. Needless conflict is divisive and it isn’t good for the country for policies to radically swing backwards and forwads after every election.

But there still is a need to ensure that the public are engaged in the political process, and there certainly is scope for radical and innovative policies. I have been having a think about this. So here is my short list of some interesting policies and issues I would like to see the parties addressing. If any political party wants to grab these they can. It might put some umpf in a rather dull election.

• Can we have real Economic Decentralisation? Designate the Atlantic corridor as the counterweight to Dublin for economic development. Pump up the infrastructure and incentives for the line running through Cork-Limerick-Galway-Sligo-Letterkenny. Make that the preferred location for foreign and domestic industrial and service investment. Dublin is big enough that it won’t collapse, but we need to balance it with substantial growth elsewhere. The midlands are a bit left out here, but I have a suggestion…
• Political Decentralisation – Well not really decentralisation, more relocation. Move the seat of government (Dail, Senate and Government Ministries) to Athlone and surrounding towns. Why not? It has been done and works in other countries (like Australia and the US). It would free up office and residential space in Dublin taking some of the heat out of the bubble. It would free up some great public buildings for re-use in the centre of Dublin. How about expanding the national museum into all of Leinster house? And unlike the current decentralisation fiasco the politicians would show they are willing to make the move and some of the pain as well. Seperately there is the need to devolve real power to the regions. Maybe not the fractious, incestuous county councils, but more power, money and responsibily needs to move from the Dail to the regions.
• Annonymisation of Political donations – How about setting up an independent state body that manages all donations to political parties and individuals. If you want to donate to a party/person because “you love politics” then provide the money to this body instead. They would aggregate all the donations and then send one check every quarter to the target group/individual, but as a total with no information on who provided what. It would help break the link between what was given and any favours returned.
• Secularise the Education system – I am a non-theist. Like 217,000 other people in this country. But by not subscribing to a particular religion I have no rights to get a child into most schools. These are state funded, and are supposed to be the “local” or “community” school, but they are allowed to practice religious discrimination in their selection policies under the Education act of 1998, and the Equal Status acts of 2000 and 2004. This is a disgrace. Suppose the hospitals were allowed to do the same thing? “Sorry, you are not a Catholic, so we are not required to treat you”. At a minimum all new schools should be non-sectarian, and there should be a push to secularise as many as possible of the existing schools. State funding should mean full compliance with a state admission policy that says you take all comers.
• Bring in utility and service charging – Why shouldn’t we pay as we use for water and waste? We do for gas, electricity and communications which are at least as necessary these days. Provide a basic allowance that you get for free (e.g. 150 litres of water per person per day), then a charge based on additional consumption. Put income supports in place for the disadvantaged and allow everyone else to offset some of their cost against tax so they can’t complain of double taxation. Then usage will be better adjusted to need, and waste massively reduced. The money can be invested to improve the quality of the services. And if you aren’t getting the service you are expecting (like in Galway) then you are well within your rights to refuse to pay. That is a great incentive for the suppliers to make sure they are doing a good job. Right now when it comes to water you get the service you pay for.
• I don’t suppose anyone would like to campaign for decriminalising drugs? Most reasons people give for drugs being bad are actually results of them being illegal, or could be better managed if they were legal. More countries are recognising that the Dutch approach of treating drug use as a health problem rather than a criminal one is more mature and effective. I wouldn’t hold out any hope of any party going after this one though.
• And finally for the most controversial one – sort out the abortion law mess. Hey even good catholic countries like Italy, Spain, and Portugal have had the balls to put a legal framework in place for abortion. Why can’t any government in this country manage it?

Like I said, these are a few suggestions. But I am not hopeful any party will move out of their comfort zone to take the risk and be a bit radical. Left or right, all the political parties in Ireland are conservative.