Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

The mother of parliaments would not be where I would necessarily look for an example of what is less than democracy. We will park that and deal with it again.

We have reached a time when we must look at the way parliament is run. Parliamentarians are elected directly by the public. Unlike other democracies, we have no list system and Members are elected directly. This is the most pure form of democracy with the exception of the Australian system. We have failed to recognise that. The way the institution is now being run is our fault. We allowed it to happen. Government must take the weight of the responsibility for that because every committee is dominated by Government. There are many more issues that I would like to address.

We have a presidential style of leadership, with the Taoiseach of the day out shaking hands, pressing the flesh, launching events, cutting tapes and talking to the people. That is not necessarily the role of the head of Government. Parliament is something that is being dealt with in committee. That is not the way it should be. Incidentally, I do not agree with the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission. It is another quango. I do not agree that the Ceann Comhairle should be the Chairman of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission. There is a conflict of interests, and that is not a criticism of the incumbent.

It is a fact of life that the Government has the predominance in the nomination of the membership to the commission. Why? All the Government needs is a majority of one. What is the purpose of the exercise? Where is democracy? There is a notion that representation is proportional. Proportionality has a rather peculiar meaning because in the previous Government the main Opposition parties had a higher proportion than is proposed to them now.

On-line submissions are the brainchild of the Minister of State and I criticised it in committee when it came before me. It is the ultimate attempt to bypass public representatives. It is an attempt by Government to reach over their heads of the elected public representative and talk directly to the people.

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