Professor David Farrell:

I will take the Senator as correct in saying that the terms of reference would have guided the reports. That speaks to the phenomenon that our Oireachtas is very weak. The knee jerk reaction of senior policy makers is to sideline the Oireachtas. That is the nature of how politics has operated, and is still operated to this day. I was actually surprised to see a reference to the Oireachtas in the most recent report but, as I noted, it was a passing reference. The 2011 report stated in a footnote that it was not an essential feature that the Oireachtas took its eye off the ball. It speaks to the need to seriously engage with Oireachtas reform.