Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Connolly who was very kind to compliment me on my Irish. I am doing my best although I have a long way to go. It is fine when one is prepared, knows what the questions will be and what one will say. I find it very hard to speak on the hoof however and as yet lack the confidence to do a dynamic interview in Irish without knowing the questions in advance. Certainly, I will have to check up on the action plan on which I am not up-to-date. I will get back to the Deputy on that.

Deputy Carey asked about the rural fund, which we hope to be able to approve tomorrow at the Cabinet meeting in Monaghan along with the urban regeneration fund so that they can be opened to applications this summer to allow us to allocate money by the end of the year for drawdown next year. When people hear of Ireland 2040 and the ten-year capital plan, they can think it means it is for ten or 20 years' time. That is not the case. It will be finished but it starts right away. We want to be able to open applications this summer and start to make allocations before the end of the year to allow people to draw down the funds next year. Those funds will be front-loaded rather than back-loaded and we are keen to have it up and running as soon as possible.

There are two issues when it comes to money messages and Private Members' Bills. Sometimes, there is a dispute about whether a money message is required, but very often there is no dispute and money is required. I cannot issue a money message unless the money has been budgeted. Where money has not been budgeted, it is impossible to issue a money message. There is also the matter of the quality of the legislation coming through. I have mentioned before that Senator Nash, I think, pointed out that some of the legislation coming through could have been written on the back of a menu. Before Government legislation gets to Second Stage, it goes through a very convoluted process. It requires heads and the drafting of a Bill in consultation with the Attorney General and the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel. It must then be published and there will probably be a two week delay before it is on Second Stage in the Dáil. Private Members' Bills of both Government and Opposition Members can be published literally on a Friday and have the Dáil take it on Second Stage the next week. That is not right either. That is why it gets stuck at committees; it is because the due diligence was not done before it even got to the Dáil to determine whether it was quality legislation, constitutional or in conflict with European law.

There is a discussion under way, led by the Ceann Comhairle, to find a solution, but it will have to involve a greater role for the Oireachtas, his office or committees in ensuring that legislation does not get to Committee Stage until it is fit to be there. A report was carried out by Aidan Dunning, a former Secretary General, who made a large number of recommendations but unfortunately they were not accepted by the Business Committee. If they had been, we would have solved the problem. In the absence of that being acceptable to the Business Committee, we are looking for an alternative solution.