Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

He was not in any way magnanimous while he was here. We had hoped that he might start off with a certain amount of magnanimity, but we will have to see how things progress. This amendment is important for the same reason I mentioned previously. It requires that the Minister be accountable to the House, and I have been pursuing this theme throughout the Bill. It relates to the lack of accountability to the House and the lack of ability of Members of the House to raise questions that are relevant to this Bill or any similar legislation.

The Bill will be activated in segments and, in discussion on the previous amendment, we noted those segments that will not come into operation except on a phased basis, which is fine. The Minister mentioned that these parts of the Bill would come into operation by way of an order which would be laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas. That is fine, but it does not address the issue. There is an urgent need for a greater degree of accountability and a greater degree of relevance for the House regarding this and other Bills.

Since I first became a Member of this House, I have seen a gradual dismissal of Members of the House on all sides and the gradual growth of the amorphous mass, previously in the hands of the Minister, which is now delegated or relegated to various groups and bodies. The Minister will have no responsibility to the House for these groups and bodies. When we put down a question in the Dáil, we are told that the question is not a matter for the Minister, but for the commissioner or somebody else who has not been elected and is only accountable to the House once a year through the Committee of Public Accounts or other relevant committee. That is unsatisfactory. I do not want to delay the progress of this Bill through the House, but this is being repeated again and again, and as long as I am in the House — depending on the whim of the people one can never tell when that might end — I will repeat that point again and again.

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