Funferal

accountability and international organisations

Joan Burton is a truly admirable politician, and her latest statement raises an important point. She’s calling for Ireland’s representatives to the IMF and World Bank to be answerable to the Oireachtas (parliament):

Labour Party Finance Spokesperson, Deputy Joan Burton, has called on the Government to insist that Irish representatives to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank come before the Oireachtas Finance Committee to explain their efforts to pursue debt relief and a fair deal for developing countries.

All too often international organisations, such as the IMF or WTO, are seen in Ireland (as elsewhere) as acting autonomously. However, the Irish government has input to the (closed) debate. Even if we are relatively weak in influence our representatives must be held accountable for the positions they take. I’ll shortly be taking this up in relation to the WTO meeting in Cancun.