Lucas Dowling

[Lucas Dowling @LucasDowling]

@StephenCM98 @Adrian_Hilton I wonder how much glebe the diocese expropriated from Hedgerley parish… £50k could be quite a good trade for the returns on property in that part of the world.

Bit cheeky of them to put out the begging bowl for “parish share”, tbh.

[Lucas Dowling @LucasDowling]

@NatSecSoc All you have to do to prove this point is look to those countries that have made the most effort to separate Church and State- eg. the USA, France.

More than any other (democratic) countries, these societies spend the most time arguing about, and regulating religion.

[Lucas Dowling @LucasDowling]

@NatSecSoc Hi,
As you’ll know, parents who object can withdraw their child from collective worship.

The test of a pluralist society isn’t that it is a neutral monochrome of non-belief, but that it enables freedom within the normative religious framework.
Cf. Denmark, Iceland, Ireland etc.

[Lucas Dowling @LucasDowling]

@LaobhaoiseNihE That’s true. One of the issue I have with Government parties being given free votes (on any issue) is they reduce accountability. We now have Taoiseach, Táiniste, and Health Minister supporting a policy the Gov’t hasn’t officially approved, which nobody voted for. It’s messy.

[Lucas Dowling @LucasDowling]

Another dimension here is the democratic deficit.

This change was not put to voters in the major parties’ manifestos; nor does it feature in the Programme for Gov’t. The same question was voted down just a month ago. Yet Gov’t is now facilitating as a “conscience” vote?

[RTÉ News @rtenews]

Last night's abortion vote offered an insight into Dáil dynamics with the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste at odds with the majority of their TDs, writes Barry Lenihan
https://t.co/7ObiwPo6f7

[Lucas Dowling @LucasDowling]

@TomasJHeneghan Because words just don’t mean anything to you. “It’s not a majority, it’s just more votes than the other side” “PBP are one of the main parties of the Dáil, all 3 of them” “changing policy without telling the electorate is democracy”🤦‍♂️

[Lucas Dowling @LucasDowling]

@TomasJHeneghan More votes in favour of confidence is, by definition, a majority.

[Lucas Dowling @LucasDowling]

@TomasJHeneghan The Gov’t could command a majority by arranging with other members to maintain confidence and supply. I’m bored of talking with you when you clearly don’t understand how the system works. Like arguing with a child who thinks he’s made a great point by sticking his tongue out.

[Lucas Dowling @LucasDowling]

@TomasJHeneghan If the government cannot command the majority of the Dáil it will fall. It’s the whole nature of the system. You’re having a great time nit picking some aspect of procedure, as though that encompasses the whole, and yet miss the point over and over.

[Lucas Dowling @LucasDowling]

@mjc0ughl4n Sadly, the current state of the discourse is that no moral value can be assigned to the life of the foetus. I suspect if you asked the likes of Simon Harris or Mary Lou McDonald, they would struggle to articulate why the 12-week limit exists at all.

[Lucas Dowling @LucasDowling]

@TomasJHeneghan If the Government can’t command a majority in the Dáil, they won’t be the Government for long.

[Lucas Dowling @LucasDowling]

@TomasJHeneghan Go and read the debate procedure on every PMB. The first question by the CC to the Gov’t is: “is the bill opposed?”. Unless the Gov’t facilitates a PMB, it won’t happen.

[Lucas Dowling @LucasDowling]

@TomasJHeneghan Constitution sets them out as voting on laws, and electing and scrutinising the Gov’t. Standing orders at the pleasure of the majority.

[Lucas Dowling @LucasDowling]

@TomasJHeneghan PMBs are only introduced and facilitated by the leave of the Government. If they choose to arrange the House’s time in that way. Unfortunately, a lot of how you view the role of the Oireachtas is based on the mutilated reforms of ‘new politics’ post 2011/2016.

[Lucas Dowling @LucasDowling]

@TomasJHeneghan Good man, Tomás. Great chat 👍

[Lucas Dowling @LucasDowling]

@TomasJHeneghan They offer scrutiny. Everything else is at the discretion of the governing majority.

[Lucas Dowling @LucasDowling]

@TomasJHeneghan I have no idea why you’re trying to make a “gotcha” point. The minority 2016 govt was based on a confidence and supply of the two main parties. The 2024 Government could not be formed without at least two of the main parties either.

[Lucas Dowling @LucasDowling]

@TomasJHeneghan They should scrutinise Government ministers, which is what the opposition exists for.

[Lucas Dowling @LucasDowling]

@TomasJHeneghan Right, and as you know there could be no Government formed without at least two of the three main parties participating. But you’ve got quite away from the issue we were discussing to be pedantic and score points. So we can leave it there.

[Lucas Dowling @LucasDowling]

@TomasJHeneghan Sure, fine. It’s just semantics. I don’t regard the alphabet soup of left and right wing parties to be the “main” actors in our parliament, but you can use whatever language you prefer.

[Lucas Dowling @LucasDowling]

@TomasJHeneghan If you like. I mean the three largest parties that would have been candidates for Government.