Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 3:

In page 3, before section 2, to insert the following new section:

2.—The Minister shall be politically accountable to Dáil Éireann for the activities and actions of—

(a) the National Roads Authority,

(b) the Road Safety Authority, and

(c) the proposed Dublin Transport Authority.

I spoke on Second Stage about the need for the Minister to be accountable to the Dáil, but it seems that the Minister for Transport has divested himself of virtually every possible power and responsibility, and is accountable to the Dáil for absolutely nothing. Only a fraction of parliamentary questions are being answered now when compared with ten years ago. Most questions are disallowed on the basis that the Minister somehow is not responsible. It seems that nobody is responsible. I have great respect for the work of NRA and for the Road Safety Authority, but ultimately the Minister must be responsible. There must be transparency.

The Ombudsman raised this issue recently. Approximately 400 single function bodies have been set up and are doing work that was previously the responsibility of Ministers. They are now completely outside the scope of parliamentary scrutiny and even of the Ombudsman in many cases. The public interest is not being protected and the work of the Ombudsman would be greatly reduced if proper scrutiny occurred in this House. Questions should be answered in here about the activities of these agencies. It is simply bad for democracy that Ministers divest themselves of responsibility.

During the debate on the Bill to establish the Road Safety Authority, a specific request was made to the Minister via an amendment and he absolutely guaranteed that he would answer questions in this House on all matters related to that authority. However, he has not answered a single question between then and his recent departure from the job.

I ask the Minister to look at this amendment. It is extremely important to our democracy that this House has some relevance. Government announcements are made every day outside the House and are not subject to scrutiny. Bills are guillotined and we get a few hours' notice on important international agreements. The House is becoming less and less relevant and I feel it incumbent on me to highlight that fact at every opportunity.

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