Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I have talked to the Parliamentary Counsel about this issue and the advice was that we must say that these functions must be assigned to "a committee". There is no reference to a new committee. The functions must be assigned to a committee of the House. It is for the Oireachtas to determine how many committees will be involved and to dissolve or create new committees, as it sees fit. Under the Constitution, the House is master of itself.