JONATHAN O’BRIEN TD | SINN FÉIN’S DÁIL SPOKESPERSON ON JUSTICE, EQUALITY & DEFENCE

‘The Dáil’s in dire need of reform’

Jonathan O’Brien at the Constance Markievicz statue at Leinster House

JONATHAN O’BRIEN is one of the new TDs amongst the 14 elected to the Dáil in the February general election.
Married to Gillian, they have four children and live in Farranree, on Cork’s northside.
A keen follower of sports, he is a former player with Na Piarsaigh GAA Club and is a director of Cork City FC.
MARK MOLONEY grabbed a half-hour with him at Leinster House.

How are you finding life in Leinster House and what was it like settling in?
It’s not what I expected; it’s a lot more intense. For myself, coming from a local government background and suddenly finding yourself in Leinster House, I don’t think anything can prepare you for it. It’s been all ‘on the job’ training.
In the first few weeks you couldn’t get a place to work as it was taken up by ex-TDs who were still moving out. There was an overall shortage of equipment and office space and that made the transition even more difficult.

It must be tough travelling up from Cork every week.
It’s not too bad. I travel up on Tuesday morning and back on Thursday night but that means I’m out of the constituency for three days a week which is strange because I’m so used to being hands-on. Thankfully, I’ve a great group of people in Cork who have undertaken a lot of the constituency work to allow me to focus on my portfolio.
It’s definitely been a tough transition for the family though. I’ve four children ranging from 6 to 16 and it’s been a huge adjustment for them. Myself and my wife are well used to this type of politics. It’s not a 9 to 5 job and my wife knows that as well as anyone but it has been difficult for the kids.
It’s also playing havoc with my love of Cork City FC! I haven’t been able to get to one away game this season because once I get back to Cork I’ve four days of work to catch up on.

You’re the Justice, Equality and Defence spokesperson. What’s that like?
It’s been one of the busiest briefs since the Dáil has come back with so many issues, from the Moriarty Report to legislation on things like Community Service Orders, white-collar crime and the Criminal Justice Bill. There’s seven bits of legislation at committee stage and 32 more promised in the Programme for Government.

Three issues in your portfolio you’d like to see progress on during your Dáil term?
One of them has to be accountability. I know that’s a very broad term but one of the things I’ve learned since taking on this brief is that there is very little accountability even in areas such as drafting and implementing legislation.
We had a ludicrous situation where the Fines Bill, which allows people to pay fines by instalment, was introduced yet the money was not there to update the computer system. As such, people cannot pay by instalment. So weeks were spent drafting, debating and enacting this Bill and then it wasn’t followed up with the resources to implement it.
The second issue has to be white-collar crime.
It’s seen as a victimless crime by some and there is a lack of political will to deal with the problem.
If you look at everything that has happened in this state over the last couple of years regarding corruption and lack of regulation, it’s the public who are paying for that now. We are all victims of white-collar crime. The introduction of cuts, extra taxes, water charges, household charges are all a direct result of what the previous crowd have done over the past 14 years.
Finally, we have to continue highlighting the inadequacies in current legislation and put forward realistic solutions.

What can be done to make the Dáil more effective?
Aside from it being for just for one part of Ireland rather than the whole island, the way the institution as a whole is run is just so archaic and outdated. It really is unbelievable. You have customs and traditions here which no longer belong in a modern society.
Just attempting to get a straight answer from a minister is so difficult. You have to put forward a written question and then an oral question and he gives you an answer but there’s no debate! It’s in dire need of political reform and what the Government are proposing isn’t really political reform – it’s not going to improve how this instituition works on behalf of the people.

Dissapointments and highlights since you’ve been here?
The lack of discussion on how certain legislation actually affects average people is a huge disappointment. Just look at the backbenches of the Labour Party. I’ve seen so many Labour TDs over the past three months stand up and speak out against certain Government proposals, such as the privatisation of An Post, yet they will still vote for it. What they said before the election is not what they are doing now; that’s a big dissapointment to me and I’m sure it’s a bigger disapointment for the hundreds of thousands of people who thought they were getting change.
It’s early days yet so the highlights for me so far have been that I’m actually able to stand up in the chamber and put republican politics out there in the public domain and expose the hypocrisy in Fine Gael and Labour.

What’s it like being a Sinn Féin TD for Cork City?
The night before I was elected somebody said to me: “The last time a Sinn Féin TD topped the poll in Cork City he was murdered.” That was Terence MacSwiney back in the 1920s so it’s a huge achievement for the party to have done so well. We celebrated it alright but the next day we were back down to work.
It’s been very satisfying to have three senators and 14 TDs working towards the same objective and making sure that republican politics are to the fore and to stand up and be a voice for those who are less-well-off in society.
If that was replicated right throughout the chamber then this place would be doing a lot better.