The effect of parliamentary reforms (2011–16) on the Oireachtas committee system

The literature on parliament identifies many factors which facilitate or impede parliamentary committees in their quest to scrutinise legislation and to oversee and hold government to account, including the formal powers assigned to them, political factors associated with the make-up of parliament, structural factors associated with parliamentary tradition, and the rules and procedure adopted by parliament. This article is concerned with how parliamentary rules and procedure can affect committees. It develops a framework of the procedural variables associated with ‘effective committee systems’ and uses it to assess the Oireachtas committee system prior to and after the reforms introduced by the thirty-first and thirty-second Dáileanna. It finds that many, though not all, of the procedural conditions for a strong committee system have been put in place. However, while changes to procedure can remove obstacles to effective committee systems, other factors - above all, the incentive for politicians to engage with committee work - will ultimately determine whether the reforms truly strengthen parliament.