Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)

The Government should acknowledge the widely held view that with the House rising today until 27 September the Government wishes to insulate itself from scrutiny and accountability. Dáil Éireann is where accountability takes place. We support the motion, although we would prefer that the House return on 5 September. Even that date is out of line with other parliaments. We would prefer to have parity with the Westminster Parliament given that we are part of a peace process and party to the Good Friday Agreement, one of whose objectives is parity of esteem. Parity of esteem means one must earn one's esteem and that can be earned by having parity in the number of sitting days, for a start. What work takes place can be assessed after that.

Westminster sits for 55 more days that this Parliament. How can the Dáil justify sitting 96 days, not even reaching 100, while across the water parliament sitting another 55 days is considered normal? That makes it difficult to secure parity of esteem in terms of accountability for the democratic process in this jurisdiction. If we are serious about resolving matters in the North, we could start by getting our own house in order and ensure this House sits for the same length of time as the parliament across the water.

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