Ceann Comhairle, Seán Ó Fearghaíl TD hosts the inaugural Speakers of the Isles Conference

The programme for the Speakers of the Isles was designed to encourage open dialogue and discussion in a collaborative setting. Sessions and discussions were facilitated by moderators, Áine Lawlor and Gavan Reilly. A number of guest speakers, all leaders in their area of expertise were invited as panellists for each session.

Participants

The participants comprised Speakers of parliaments as well as Clerks of parliaments, parliamentary officials from the UK, Guernsey, Ireland, Isle of Man, Jersey, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales

Delegates included:

Conference Themes & Panellists

The conference addressed three main themes:

Theme 1: Parliamentary privilege: realistic or redundant?

Panellists:

Conleth Bradley, Senior Counsel with a  doctorate in governance

Former Chief Justice Frank Clarke, President of the Law Reform Commission

Mellissa English, Senior Counsel and Chief Parliamentary Legal Adviser to the Houses of the Oireachtas

Professor David Farrell, Chair of Politics at University College Dublin

Professor Paul Wragg, Professor of Media Law at the University of Leeds

Theme 2: Ethics and standards in public life: protecting parliamentary democracy in a modern world

Panellists:

Elaine Byrne, barrister and author of Political Corruption in Ireland 1922-2010: A Crooked Harp

Stephen Collins, political columnist with the Irish Times

Daniel Greenberg, House of Commons Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.

Olivia O’Leary, broadcaster and presenter

Garrett Sheehan, chairperson of the Standards in Public Office Commission

Theme 3: Public discourse and security in political life: impact on parliamentarians.

Panellists:

Ambassador Claire Cronin, United States Ambassador to Ireland.

Frances Fitzgerald, MEP for Dublin City and County

Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Speaker of the House of Commons

Sam McBride, Northern Ireland editor of the Belfast Telegraph and the Sunday Independent

Anne Marie McMahon, Deputy Commissioner of An Garda Síochána for policing and security

Chris Yiu, Director of Public Policy for Northern Europe at Meta

Outline of discussions:

Theme 1: Parliamentary privilege: realistic or redundant?

Panellists considered whether parliamentary privilege is absolute, whether it can or should be limited, by whom, and with reference to what criteria. The discussion explored the importance of parliamentary privilege for democracy while also balancing the rights of individuals outside of Parliament.  The operation of parliamentary privilege continues to evolve. Some evolution will be gradual and organic while some developments will be driven by events such as COVID where our parliaments faced fundamental challenges and responded in different ways. Conversations where parliamentarians share experiences are a vital part of that process.

Theme 2: Ethics and standards in public life: protecting parliamentary democracy in a modern world.

The discussion covered the different regimes across participating parliaments which were created following specific scandals when it became clear that self-regulation was no longer feasible. There was an awareness of the need for the processes to be robust and timely, with principle-based rules – like other professions. There was a cognisance to the importance of maintaining high standards to ensure public confidence in democracy.

Theme 3: Public discourse and security in political life: impact on parliamentarians.

This session began with a reminder of recent attacks on politicians, including the murder of two MPs and police officer and covered the measures introduced by the parliaments to protect members both within parliament and in their constituency offices. The panellists focused on the impact of online harassment on sitting members and potential candidates and measures to address this.

Images from Conference

Please click here to view all images from the inaugural Speakers of the Isles Conference 2023