Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)

It is an area we will have to consider. While the committee structure works reasonably well, it is often only the members of the committee who attend, although any Member of the Houses can attend to ask questions. However, Members have constituency pressures and sit on so many committees that they may not have time to state their case.

Some measure should be introduced so that a Deputy can table a parliamentary question and be guaranteed a reply. I realise there is a procedure whereby if a Deputy tables a question on a Tuesday, it will be answered the following Tuesday. I would not mind waiting a few days if I was to get a proper response. However, the standard response is that the issue is no longer the responsibility of the Minister and has been referred to the chief executive officers of the various health boards. That is not good enough.

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