Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The professor is very welcome and I thank him for his time. He makes a pretty clear conclusion at the end of his opening remarks that the Irish Parliament performed poorly during the period in question and he outlined the reasons. He talked a lot about parliamentary reform and the need to strengthen the committee system. Even within the constraints of the existing Oireachtas system and the constraints that applied over the past ten to 15 years, there were, and remain, opportunities to raise issues, including on Leaders' Questions. The Opposition has Private Members' time every week and the Government can organise debates but, in the main, that did not happen in regard to banking and regulation. The role of the Oireachtas is part of our terms of reference. How can he reconcile that? He has made points about reform but even within the constraints, there was not really adequate debate by any objective measure.