Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)

I support amendment No. 4, tabled by Deputy Wall. There is a deficit in politics in ministerial responsibility and that of various Government agencies to this House. It is probably one of the most frustrating aspects of politics to table a question on tourism, the arts or, perhaps in the future, the campus only for the Minister to say it is not his responsibility. It represents a democratic deficit in the system and is an increasing occurrence. At one time one could table a question on health and receive some response, but now it is a matter for the Health Service Executive. All the issues that used to be raised in the House on the subject of health can no longer be raised. The same applies in the Minister's area of responsibility. It is very frustrating when Members put forward 20 or 30 questions and half of the replies state that the issue is not the responsibility of the Minister.

Deputy Wall is trying to ensure that the authority is at least answerable to the House. We all receive one-line responses from State agencies and nothing further. In some cases one is lucky to receive a one-line response. One might wait months for a reply but no in-depth response is forthcoming. Surely if democracy is to work, Deputies must have confidence in the process, especially when in Opposition. Surely we are entitled to a detailed response to queries on current matters in a specific State agency. Even a private company sometimes provides a detailed response but not a State agency, which is supposed to be answerable to this House, the supposed watchdog for such bodies.

This is a reasonable amendment. Even though the Minister refused to accept previous amendments in my name, which I thought made very practical proposals, especially given that only today he made a major announcement on the future promotion of ladies soccer, he should accept Deputy Wall's amendment because it will make this authority in some way accountable to the House. At the very least it will enable us to obtain information from the authority on issues relating to its work and its activities in the years ahead.

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