Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

I welcome the agreement on the social partnership. It would be churlish not to recognise the considerable work that has gone into negotiating an agreement. However, why has the Government not made an effort to address the democratic deficit in the way this agreement is put in place? It contains numerous promises of legislation for the future. Is it not time we had a more transparent and open system for deciding our priorities for ten years into the future? Is it not extraordinary that the Oireachtas has never been consulted about this agreement and was never consulted about or debated the last agreement?

An agreement has been put in place which purports to set out a framework for legislation over the next ten years and the Oireachtas has no say in it. We are being seriously by-passed. This is not a new topic. The Government was well aware of the concern in the House about this issue before it commenced the process of negotiating the partnership agreement. We are not the only ones who are left out; the views of the public service, consumers, parents——

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