John Crown (Independent) | Oireachtas source

This could be fixed on picking up the telephone. No disrespect whatsoever to the office of the Clerk of the Dáil but I strongly suspect the problem has not been finding a suitably qualified person. I do not believe it is a case of finding someone uniquely qualified. It is impossible to escape two conclusions, one being that the problem has not been fixed because of a manifestation of some kind of power struggle between official officers of our democracy - not including the Minister - or those who represent the highest levels of government and those who represent the Chair of the Dáil. There is a somewhat less savoury interpretation, which is that because so many of these jobs sadly become a manifestation of political patronage, there is no concordance regarding the one or two people earmarked for the job. I have real difficulty in understanding why this matter should be regarded as an emergency today and why it could not have been fixed earlier. I am not an obsessive, nerdish follower of the arcane processes of parliamentary procedure. I looked up today the date on which the last incumbent resigned and saw July. I believed movement was pretty quick until I saw the date was July 2013, a year ago. It was all over the newspapers that this was happening a year ago. Why is it becoming such an issue today? The Minister has been given the thankless job of representing a policy that clearly has been in place but which is wrong. It is just not the way this should happen. The job should have been filled a long time ago.

I have a very specific question that the Minister probably cannot answer today.

What level of expense is involved in passing a legislative measure, rather than just appointing the person last year?

There is also an opportunity cost associated with passing legislation because other legislative measures will not be passed or will be delayed or will not be drafted because the expertise of the people who draft and scrutinise legislation must be used in drafting this legislation. I know from experience that a Bill we tried to pass two years ago on something as simple as banning smoking in cars where children were present which we had hoped would be in place to stop children being exposed to cigarette smoke during their summer holidays in 2012 was delayed for two years because we were told the people who drafted Bills were desperately over-worked and understaffed. I will seek a division to make a tetchy protest "No" vote on this issue. The message must be conveyed that this is an illustration of something that is wrong with the political process.

Again, I thank the Minister for his attention to the SSNOs. My colleagues in the Neurological Alliance of Ireland were very encouraged by the fact that somebody as senior as him was giving it attention. I wish the Minister the best with his new responsibilities.