Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Just hear me out. It is not the correct way to do business in the national Parliament. We do not do private sessions in the Chamber. Committees are meant to reflect what goes on in the Chamber but in a committee context. There was no reason why what I heard in private session could not have been said in public. It looks very bad if anyone who happens to tune in sees that we have discussed everything in private session and are now coming into public session just to rubber-stamp the position. I do not know the protocol in this House but, Dáil reform or no Dáil reform, it is a bad practice and I do not think the Chairman's own instinct would be comfortable with having discussions in private session that should be in public session.

I have no issue with the matters under discussion. However, we will be obliged to re-examine how we do our business in the future. By and large, our business should be done in public session. We are elected as public representatives. I do not like the practice of private discussions. There might be a very good reason for that to happen every now and again but we are going to have to revisit this, if not at this committee then as part of Dáil reform. That is just my personal opinion.