Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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I agree 100% with that. I propose we write to the Committee on Procedure and ask them to outline precisely the process for amending Standing Orders of the House. When we get that answer, members of the committee can consider through our own parties and groups whether we seek to do that. Like Deputy Catherine Murphy, I agree that the Kerins ruling has been applied overzealously to try to shut down this and indeed other committees. This is proof of it now, where, as Deputy Catherine Murphy has said, we had the national children's hospital people in previously very specifically about current matters. In fact, they advised us in writing at a later date that they would never be in a position to tell us how much it would cost. Equally, I would say that when we ask them the question of when they will be finished, the next reply that will come will say: "We haven't a clue". Therefore, either we seek to change this Standing Order through our own political groupings or we write to the Committee on Procedure asking that it consider renaming this committee to something like the committee for after the horse has bolted. I also want to put on record that I understood I was being put on the Committee on Procedure but it seemed that changed once this matter emerged. I am also aware that existing members of the Committee on Procedure who are members of this committee were advised to recuse themselves. I think that is questionable, to be honest. We are all Members of the Oireachtas and I do not at all like the level of prescription that is seeping into our work as Oireachtas Members. It undermines the mandate each Member has received. Certainly, from a Fianna Fáil perspective, there are no internal party rules that dictate in this manner as to how we go about our work.