Donie Cassidy (Westmeath, Fianna Fail)

The needs of the Members of both Houses of the Oireachtas have been enhanced and fulfilled by the appointment of this commission, which was a great decision. I pay tribute to everyone from the Ceann Comhairle who has chaired it to the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Lenihan, Deputies McGrath and Howlin and Senator O'Toole, colleagues with whom I have worked on other committees and sub-committees of these Houses. The people have been well served by those Members in terms of their expertise, experience, determination and will to do the right thing in the national interest.

When I was elected to the Seanad in 1982 I shared an office with five Members. We had two telephones and had to book a time to use the telephone. We had one secretary. A big change had to be made. Lobby groups were coming in here with all the tools of their trade and we were left powerless in terms of what we had to contend with and had to try to match. The facilities we now have are a step in the right direction. However, a number of facilities are still required ranging from one as simple as a colour photocopier, which no Member has. We are living in a technological age and must compete with all the facilities and services available to lobby groups in particular. It is not good enough for Members of Parliament to only match those facilities. Whatever tools of the trade that Oireachtas Members need should be provided by the commission immediately.

I welcome the allocation of money for the work being done by Oireachtas Members. I compliment Mr. Kieran Coughlan, Clerk of the Dáil, and Ms Deirdre Lane, Clerk of the Seanad. They are wonderful people as are their staff who work hard to serve Oireachtas Members. I fully support our having a translation service and it being funded. I support the Members tooth and nail. Whatever they have done up to now, the job has only started and Oireachtas Members are a long way from getting the tools of their trade, which we still require. If the difficulty is a lack of funding, irrespective of how it is to be provided, the Government has shown that a serious will and attitude, which is the most important element, exist to supply services for each Member of the Dáil and Seanad.

The last appointments which were made to provide us with parliamentary assistants were a Godsend. The volume of work that a Member does today is at least five times what I did when I was first elected many years ago. At that time a constituent would call to one at the weekend, one would write to him or her and to the Minister responsible, the Minister would reply in the second week and the problem would be dealt with in the third week. However, today one is contacted about a problem in the morning by mobile call or by e-mail, which arrives even before one opens one's eyes. A constituent will telephone at 5 p.m. on the same day and ask how one got on in addressing the issue. If one is not on the other end of the phone and is in the Chamber or doing other Oireachtas work, one will get a text worded to the effect "Please let me know. P.S. I expect an answer". That is what is happening and Members do not have access to a facility as simple as a colour photocopier. We need an enormous number of facilities.

I am chairman of the sub-committee of the Committee on Procedure and Privileges, which is an honour and a privilege. I was working with colleagues, relatively new Members such as Deputy Boyle, who when they came here from the private sector, where they had access to all the tools of the trade, could not believe that Parliament did not have the bare essentials to carry the work at this time when money is flowing because of good Government policy, good civil servants and good Members of Parliament on all sides who tease out issues with transparency the order of the day.

I am probably the longest serving Member having regard to the time I spent in both Houses, along with the Acting Chairman. What we are doing here is only halfway along the route. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Lenihan, for his work in this respect. I have always been an big admirer of his ability and his determination to help and do the right thing at the right time. Thankfully, this Bill is progressing and I hope the next Parliament will take it a stage further where we will be able to fight with both hands out in front and not with one tied behind our backs as most of us have done while we served in whichever House we were lucky to be Members of.

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