Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

The setting this evening epitomises the difficulty with the motion. All we are missing are beer and soft drink cans and empty crisp bags. It is almost like Croke Park in the evening after an all-Ireland, desolate after the excitement of the day. This motion, however, is very important. I deeply regret that, with the exception of a few discerning commentators, this debate will be ignored by the media because it is not simple, populist or tabloid.

Most people in this House do not expect Members to sit at unreasonable times. Deputy Hayes mentioned Friday sittings, an idea that may have come from this side of the House, but the concept is unreasonable and most Members would not want it. Society does not expect us to be here five days a week for 50 weeks of the year. For many Members, the Dáil is one of the few places where their time is their own and life is much more pleasant than the hustle and bustle of the constituency.

In the recent past we have pandered to the populist concept about TDs that is heard on the Pat Kenny show or "Liveline" with Joe Duffy. We should completely ignore it, we could even turn the tables on it. I was driving into the Dáil one day and someone on the slot normally filled by Pat Kenny said he was filling in while Pat Kenny was on holiday. That was while the Dáil was in session. I thought we had three or four months holidays while they had very few holidays.

This, however, is not a battle with the commentators. I do not want to anticipate the Government speeches but the speakers will outline how the Taoiseach is here on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and in previous Dáileanna he was not here that often on a Thursday, maybe only half the time. The line will be trotted out that he attends Parliament more than any Prime Minister in the western hemisphere. The fact of the matter is that the Taoiseach comes in here at 2.30 p.m. on a Tuesday and is gone by lunch time on Wednesday 30 weeks of the year. That has a knock-on effect. In the last Dáil we all talked about how we did not think it could become any more ineffective. It is populist to say it is a sham and irrelevant but that is what it has become.

There is only one real Order of Business, on a Tuesday, because the Order of Business on Wednesday is irrelevant. We are all at fault. The first Order of Business on a Wednesday since the end of the recess took place last week and when I came in there was only Deputy Kenny, the leader of Fine Gael, Deputy Durkan, the Fine Gael Whip, and Deputy Enright. People leave after questions to the Taoiseach to go to committees or meet groups and they do not come back. Leaders' Questions is such a setpiece that it is losing its effect. It is not fair. I have looked back over Order of Business debates in the last Dáil and the Ceann Comhairle was one of the most vociferous in raising issues on the Order of Business but now they would be ruled out of order.

It is in the interests of the Government not to be in the Dáil. This is one of the few places where the Opposition is on an equal footing with the Government. Deputy Crawford mentioned the Department of Agriculture and Food. There are 200 policy makers in the Department and the Minister, Deputy Walsh, and his Ministers of State, Deputies Aylward and Treacy, have press statements spilling from the fax machine every minute of the day. It is difficult for the Opposition to compete. The Government feeds the information to journalists who need it more than it needs them.

The media have become lazy while the good cop, bad cop act has been perfected by Fianna Fáil. Fianna Fáil Members give both sides of the story on the plinth but then come into the Dáil and vote together. That hypocrisy is never highlighted because the media do not have the interest or the time to follow up on it.

We must become more relevant. It is meaningless to say we have turned out so many Bills in a year. We should have a value for money audit and review the Bills that have been passed in recent years. I am on the board of management of a secondary school so I was interested when the Education (Welfare) Bill was introduced with great fanfare but three or four years later the educational welfare officers are not yet in place. Could we not have a system whereby we would review a certain number of Bills to ascertain their effectiveness? A list of Bills as long as one's arm has been passed in the six years I have been a Member of this House, yet I do not notice any great changes in our society. We are still driving on the left hand side of the road and there is still trouble on the streets at night. Such legislation has made no difference because its provisions have not been implemented. The necessary funding has not been provided to implement certain sections of legislation, and we are only fooling ourselves if we think otherwise.

Let us be honest with each other and recognise that we are not always right, the Deputies opposite are not always wrong and vice versa. We need more open discussion in this House and we need to be more honest with each other. The Deputies opposite will traipse in and vote against this motion. They will vote for their amendment which many of them believe in their hearts is not correct. We need to relax the Whip system. The issue of levies is contentious. Every Fianna Fáil politician I have spoken to has said they are wrong. Therefore, we should discuss them in an open manner and not have Members on the Government side reading from a script to the effect that they are a biscuit while Members on this side say they are bar.

I believe and hope that other groups on this side of the House will support the motion. The Taoiseach no longer has the moral authority to stay out of the Dáil on Thursdays. We are not asking him to come here every Thursday, but at the very least the Order of Business must be changed on Wednesday to make it relevant and the Taoiseach must be available on some Thursdays to come into this House. If we were honest with each other we would admit that we have turned into a dysfunctional Parliament. Despite the hype and the tripe that has been put out, that is what has happened.

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