Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

Yesterday I raised an issue with the Ceann Comhairle, namely, the apparent shutting down of the facility of parliamentary questions, with questions being transferred to one quango or another. I have a letter to hand that the Ceann Comhairle sent to my colleague, Deputy Quinn. He had sought information from the Taoiseach concerning the maintenance of records in the offices of the Attorney General and the Chief State Solicitor regarding certain specified judicial reviews. The question was ruled out of order because the Taoiseach has no official responsibility in this regard and it was suggested that Deputy Quinn should go to the Courts Service.

I have another letter to hand, dated 3 July, from the Ceann Comhairle to me. I had a simple question to ask of the Taoiseach as to when the Cabinet Handbook was last updated and whether he would make a statement on the matter. The Ceann Comhairle has informed me that the Taoiseach has no official responsibility to Dáil Éireann for this matter as it impinges on matters internal to the Cabinet. It is fantastic that a simple question on when the Cabinet Handbook was last updated should be ruled out of order. It is manifestly not a matter internal to the Cabinet only. Furthermore, when an almost identical question was asked on 12 November 2002, it was replied to by the Taoiseach.

At this early stage of the Dáil, if Members are to do their job in terms of holding the Government to account, I am greatly concerned that reasonable questions are being transferred to one agency of State or other and the relevant Minister or Taoiseach takes no responsibility in the House. Since I entered this House, it has been traditional that questions pertaining to the Office of the Attorney General would be answered by the Taoiseach. This is an absolute cardinal principle of accountability and Members will be obliged to pursue this issue in the new term.

While I am on my feet, since I raised the issue with him last week, has the Tánaiste given further consideration to the Government's response to the Standards in Public Office Commission's report on the matter of the funding of political parties?

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