Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

It is to the discredit of the Government that it keeps coming up with this. Every attempt allegedly made to improve the system brings with it a referral to a committee and on-line submissions that the Government will deal with directly to the exclusion of the Opposition. The Opposition can make on-line submissions too. What is the benefit of having a parliament? Why not abolish it and have the odd plenary session every six or eight months? Let the committees do the digging and let the various Minister do what they want, be out of the House at all times.

Deputy Sean Barrett referred to Question Time and he put forward a very good idea to ensure that everybody participated in it. There should not be a lottery system and in that way there would not be picking and choosing, just open questions for everyone and every question would have to be answered. One could put a limit on the number of questions and that would bring every single Member into this House.

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