Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Could I endorse what Senator Murphy and Deputy Devlin said about the promulgation of the work of the committee and about making the committee more accessible to members of the public via the submission of petitions? Ours is an important committee that can give frustrated citizens an avenue for having their voices heard. They may not like the answers to their petitions, but it gives them a process by which they can engage and be listened to and interacted with. Those of us who have been on this committee this term and during the previous term recognise that there is a job of work to be done in educating and creating awareness. Notwithstanding that Covid has placed restrictions on our ability to go out and engage people in person, might we give consideration to a virtual promulgation in parallel with an in-person approach? This is an important committee that gives our citizens a right of access, and rightly so. I support the remarks of Senator Murphy and Deputy Devlin in that regard, as well as those of Deputy O'Donoghue.