Category: Democratic accountability

Voices of Civic Engagement

Emma DeSouza 03/12/2025

Deliberative democracy has been on the rise globally as more governments embrace citizen participation as a tool in policymaking. Despite this progress, and commitments in the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement for a Civic Forum – envisaged to be an umbilical cord between political institutions and wider civic society - Northern Ireland lags on …

Turning away from ‘Authoritarian Populism’

Tiarnán McDonough 18/09/2025

For the last two weekends in a row, protests in central London have given rise to scenes that have been reported around the world and will trouble …

Political Imagination and a Laboratory of Social Possibilities

Mary Murphy 28/04/2025

This short blog is an argument for civil society to grow its capacity to incubate alternatives and to promote the idea of a collective ‘laboratory …

The Speaking Rights Row

Tiarnán McDonough 27/03/2025

The scenes of disorder in the Dáil chamber yesterday will have alarmed many. The row between government and opposition over speaking rights has been …

Fighting for Democracy in an Age of Complacency

Shana Cohen 18/03/2025

The 2025 Programme of Government embraces ‘stability’ in a time of geopolitical upheaval and democratic backsliding. The new government’s …

6 Takeaways from TASC’s Workshop on Strengthening Irish Democracy in an Era of Democratic Decline

03/10/2024

On September 10th, TASC gathered a diverse group representing government, business, civil society, media, and community groups to discuss challenges …

What Is The Point? The Difference The Left Can Make

Stella Creasy 16/10/2023

In his essay Ireland, Island of Saints and Sages James Joyce quotes Oscar Wilde saying ‘We Irishmen have done nothing, but we are the greatest …

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