Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)

I thank our party leader and colleagues for tabling this important motion. We can spend much time talking about issues but if we do not have reform in the House soon we will lose even more credibility. I had friends visit the House today and they found it difficult to understand how we deal with such a difficult structure. I congratulate the Opposition parties and the Government Chief Whip on agreeing to the change in structure today to allow statements to be made and questions to be asked. To be serious, 15 minutes were allowed for questions, and two questions were answered, or not answered, whichever way one likes to see it. We must speed up the structure. The Ceann Comhairle is in charge but a structure must be put in place. In other parliaments, reactions are quick and straight to the point. There is too much waffle in this House.

I support reform in every sense. My colleague, Deputy Hayes, referred to urgent business relating to his constituency. I sometimes table a notice under Standing Order 31 because it is one of the few ways of putting an issue on the record of the House. If a Deputy does not do so, someone else will. This is the wrong reason for tabling such a notice. It should be possible to have written replies or some reply to questions at the end of the day. Nine or ten notices are read out, which is a waste of time.

I was in the House during Question Time last Wednesday. We reached only the second or third ordinary question. Some questions were taken together. Given that so much effort goes into compiling questions, it is unsatisfactory that one is allocated a limited amount of time to deal with them. The structure gives few opportunities to ask further questions or to get in-depth answers. We are answerable to the people and the Government must allow the Opposition to do its job and get those answers in this House. We may be as guilty on the Opposition benches as the Minister because we must get something onto the record. If we ask a short question, we certainly will not get a short answer and that is part of the problem.

We all like to speak on the Adjournment but such matters are really for the local media and do not achieve anything. The Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Martin, came into the House last Tuesday night at midnight to reply to a debate on health services in the Cavan-Monaghan region. However, it is often not even the responsible or relevant Minister who comes into the House. If the Fine Gael proposal is not the right proposal, we must work at this to come up with ideas that will allow Deputies to raise urgent matters at the start of the day and to get answers.

I was one of the first Deputies to raise the issue of foot and mouth disease in this House. It was a crisis and the Minister for Agriculture and Food, Deputy Walsh, answered questions and debated the issue during that period. I remember, however, that he gave Deputy Alan Dukes and me a commitment that within 12 months, we would discuss the regulations that were introduced at that time. It never happened. What is this House for? Is it relevant? Regulation after regulation has never been discussed in the Dáil. Decoupling was never discussed, although I asked for a debate on it several times. Avian flu, however, was discussed the moment it arrived. The EU is refusing to implement REPS 3. When will that be discussed in the House? When will the nitrates directive be discussed? Many farmers see this House as totally irrelevant.

Would the beef tribunal have been necessary if a structure in this House had forced the Minister of the day to answer questions? No, and we would have saved the time and money lost in that and subsequent tribunals. We must examine how this Chamber and the committees can compel people to come into the House to answer questions.

We all agree that social partnership has been of benefit to the country but it would be a good idea for the results of social partnership to be discussed in the House. Health boards are a further example. They had millions of euro this year while old people could not even get a bed. The answers we get to questions about schools are a complete joke. We are told to go to the Internet but anyone can do that. When we put down questions on education, we want an answer that is relevant to the question asked, not just a statement on a website. I urge the Minister to treat this issue seriously, otherwise this House will become totally irrelevant.

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