Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

With the agreement of the House, I will share time with Deputy Rabbitte.

Debates involving Dáil reform usually attract the ire of the Opposition rather than of Government. I have a sense of déjÀ vu. Not having been a Member of the Dáil for five years I find this debate remarkably similar to debates which might have taken place ten or 12 years ago. This is indicative of our slow pace of reform.

Twenty-two committees is far too many for a House of 166 Members. Deputy Fleming is one of the more successful committee chairmen. As a constituency colleague, I acknowledge his constructive work in the area of finance. The Dáil and its committees have failed to keep Ministers accountable. Many committees are being run by the Executive, whether openly or surreptitiously. Ministers and ministerial functionaries are ordering the business of committees in the same way as the business of the House is being ordered exclusively by the Executive.

The Legislature remains weak and loses out on all occasions. The lack of ministerial accountability has grown considerably since I left here in 2002. A parliamentary question on health can now be responded to six weeks after it is tabled and contain no relevant information.

The Dáil needs to be less tribal and more representative of the people. We should not always break down on party lines and slavishly follow the party whip. I hope we will have an opportunity to deal with this issue on a future occasion. We have Government conveners, vice-chairs and a variety of super-Deputies but one must remind oneself of the minimal power entrusted to these people.

We now have Government by press release and press conference. None of the major decisions of the day affecting how we do our business is made from within this House. They are made in the plush surrounds of Merrion Street or after Fianna Fáil cumainn arrangements in Galway, Kerry or north Dublin, usually on days when the House is sitting but with no one here. This place has become a total irrelevance and the Chief Whip is constitutionally charged with the duty of wresting power back to the Legislature. He has failed abysmally in introducing a 22 committee labyrinthine structure which will take Members out of the Chamber to meet one another going back and forth in corridors, carrying files. No one, certainly not the people who elect us to this House, will know what is happening. Power needs to be wrested back and vested in the Legislature where we could have scrutiny and accountability of a type we do not have now. Twenty-two committees is not the way forward.

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