Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

The Minister of State's briefing note mentioned appointments made by the British Prime Minister. I am not a lawyer, but as I understand it, the critical difference between our Houses of the Oireachtas and the situation in the United Kingdom where powers of appointment rest with the British Prime Minister, is that the United Kingdom does not have a written constitution. We have a Constitution and the Houses of the Oireachtas and the Office of the Ceann Comhairle are specifically provided for in it. Hopefully, the scenario which we are currently discussing will never happen because it would be a grave constitutional and political crisis. If that power is vested in the Taoiseach of the day, it would be impossible to use because it would become completely politically conflicted. Regarding the Minister of State's notes on the United Kingdom and the powers of its Prime Minister, is it not true that those powers arise because of the peculiarity of the constitution of the United Kingdom and the other countries to which he referred? I believe the Minister of State mentioned Australia and New Zealand.

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