[Speaker] The role of Cean Comhairle / March-April Congress Report

Day 2,372, 04:32 • Published in Ireland Ireland • by Seanan


Citizens of Ireland,

This is a consensus building exercise aimed at establishing the role of Ceann Comhairle / Speaker of Parliament should play by reviewing the Dáil Éireann term March/April. As the first of its kind, this report will experiment with different ways of displaying activity and contribution. At my discretion, the report will also include examples of individual contributions and stances based on my interpretation (stress: no quotes or logs will be issued, misrepresentation will be the fault of myself and not the original author) – this exercise is to determine the content Dail members are comfortable displaying and what Citizens want to see.

As my real-life schedule has freed up, I have taken on responsibility in the Department of Defence and the Army; while I've certainly enjoyed my time overseeing Dáil affairs and gaining greater insight into many of its functions, I believe we should seek to elect a new Ceann Comhairle for the following term and with this article establish a benchmark for them to work under.




Organization of Dail Mail-thread Groups
Due to game mechanics, ingame Mail threads are limited to a maximum of 30 participants.

Dail Groups: A and B.

Government Officials in both Groups: Daniel.Plainview (CP), Bhane (VP, Advisor), Seanan (CC, Advisor), Sweet Drinker (Advisor), Ian E Coleman (MoE, Advisor), Punistick (MoD), Mininuns (MoFA), Appleman (MoF) and Immigration Committee - Bhane, BiednyMis, Liam Tatlock.

Government Officials exclusive to Group A: Don Gomar (MoC) and Glen MC (vMoD).

Government Officials exclusive to Group B: Foxfire (vMoC), MrYYY (vMoFA) and Patrick McGowen (vMoFA).

Dail Group A:
Uljanov, Klynn, Rafaia, Lexone, Frank Dobbs, Bassy, Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin, Uncle Bulgaria, Dark Fallen Arrow, irishbhoy1967, crosoldier2013, caligula1950, STR|BOR, CuFaoil, IrishKnight, John Gormley and Luc Grenier.

Dail Group B:
Anthony Colby, Paddy Obrien, Irasian, Mirek1234, Danilo Garcia, Mr. Jack X, Little Victoria, S|AVASh99, An Sluagh, Wingfield, Ian Arbuckle, Endritt Zekka, JD Koda, Arthur E.H. Moore, Nerusia and Rugal Bernstein.




Group A v Group B
Table below provides comparative statistics (of some relevant* factors) between the groups including Gov. Officials contributions, while citizenship/participation applies only to Dail members (excluding Duo Minister-Dail member aswell).


*Up for discussion.


Individual Overview
Feedback on useful stats would be particularly appreciated on this segment. I’ve included spelling mistakes, not to be a Grammar Nazi (more specially to be an anti-Americanism Grammar Nazi).

* As a point of fairness, "Official Stamps" from Government / Immigration Committee members are not included in Total Posts and Word Count.



1) Discussion on embargoes
Daniel.Plainview (CP) proposes the use of embargoes against two hostile countries
Dail members BiednyMis and ian arbuckle voice mechanically embargoes are insignificant
While Rugal Bernstein outright raised objection
However, Bhane suggests the symbolic value of an embargo.


2) Discussion on potentially new countries
Various Dail members voice their support behind different proposed countries, with Iceland being mentioned the most.
Iceland being close to Ireland is suggested as a source of interest, but also uncertainly due to potential PTO from Asgard or hostile allegiances.


3) Discussion on Canadian Natural Enemy Proposal
BiednyMis breaks the news of a Canadian proposal, suggesting a breakdown in relations.
Mr.YYY asks for a counter-proposal and Dail members to hold votes – BiednyMis obliges.
Daniel.Plainview (CP) reports Canada may be attempting to move us into Newfoundland and start a Resistance War to gain Dail nearer elections (Later confirmed by Canadian Government)
Some Dail members across parties (e.g. Luc Grenier, Paddy Obrien, Liam Tatlock and Uncle Bulgaria) state a friendly stance to Canada, but Paddy and Liam raise a concern of lack of communication
On that topic, MrYYY and Mininuns cite themes of disrespect for an ally over Canada’s conduct

Other opinions expressed include advocacy not to involve Ireland in the US-Canadian dispute by wingfield, Punistick and Bhane for numerous reasons (such as our alliance relations with the US and the futileness of the particular strategy). Don Gomar and MrYYY state an opinion to proceed with hostile intent citing Canada’s conduct and disregard.

Daniel.Plainview (CP) presents the Dáil Éireann with the opportunity to decide Foreign Policy; vote through the Natural Enemy proposal with U.S. backing, or vote No and Canada will also vote No to their Natural Enemy proposal. The proposal failed with only 35% of the vote.


4) Discussion on MPP Spending
After a string of MPP proposals, Liam Tatlock and Paddy OBrien ask Government for an update/review of MPP spending
Daniel.Plainview (CP) later confirms budget will return to normal allowance
Dail members proceed to discuss the merits and relationships of other potential countries for a lower budget compared to utilizing those funds for mobile and COs.
Some Dail members raise concerns over extending MPPs to non-Aurora countries whilst not all Aurora countries MPP’d, Daniel.Plainview (CP) responses that Aurora HQ is aware of Irish budget constraints but need to obtain DOs.
Some Dail members raise concerns of MPPs with Sirius nations over themes of lack of comradeship and state dislike of action against Asgard nations, whilst Government attempts to raise additional funds for diplomatic MPPs with Sirius.




Comments
Discussion topics 1 and 2 represent non-sensitive topics which respectively have named individual’s inputs abbreviated and not named abbreviations of topics discussed. Discussion topics 3 and 4 represent potentially sensitive topics under the same framework of named and not named. Obviously, on the side of caution, this article was not released shortly after the end of March/April term – but waited for developments in these discussions to take place as not to represent current Irish affairs... as such the Impeachment of Taoiseach Daniel.Plainview.

Key questions for Government and Dail members are: 1) What level of detail / types of discussion are you comfortable with being published? 2) Are you comfortable having your contribution attributed to you in public? 3) Do you believe the abbreviations are accurate of your input?

Key questions for Public: 1) What level of detail / types of discussion do you want to see published? 2) what sort of statistics/criteria for judging performance do you want to see?

None of this has had prior consulting with individuals featured, so abbreviations of inputs have a high risk of being misrepresented or incomplete. Further, I haven’t included topics which I felt were irrelevant. However, this should gather enough feedback for future Speakers to work under.


Procedural recommendations
1) Ceann Comhairle / Speaker of Parliament to be elected every 3 months; on 3rd month, at the beginning of the Dail term, a vote is held for election for the position for the following month. If re-elected, the Speaker carries on as usual. If new player elected, the current Speaker competes his/her 3rd term and the New Speaker takes over the following month.

*Essentially, the Dail present in a Speaker’s 3rd term, elect a Speaker for next 3 Dail terms.

2) Prior elections next Dail elections (minimum 2 days), Speaker releases an article similar to this; in order for the public and Party Presidents to make informed decisions, but also to give time to the Speaker to consult with individuals about the abbreviations of their inputs before a new election and new topics become the focus.

3) Requirements for the position; Ceann Comhairle / Speaker of Parliament must be a Dail member when elected, but can continue in the position next terms even if not re-elected as a Dail member (although should not act in the capacity of a Dail member in discussion if this is the case).

4) Mission statements for the position; keep communication between Dail groups on relevant topics by transferring abbreviations of inputs, intervene on overly hostile / irrelevant arguments to retain Dail purpose and act as a point of contact for Dail members to propose and initiate structured discussions.