Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

I do not want to go into Dáil reform in general because my colleague, Deputy Stanton, has done a huge amount of work on that. I draw to the attention of the Taoiseach one specific issue on which I have done some work, the concept of the dedicated television channel. I spoke to RTE about this issue which states that, from a technical point of view, it is an absolutely viable proposition. The issue is cost. If the Government and the Taoiseach are serious about trying to make this happen in the short to medium term, some money will have to be put aside in the forthcoming budget to facilitate a dedicated Oireachtas channel. I appeal to the Taoiseach, through the Whips office, to liaise with RTE. We can have all the committee considerations we want on this issue but if it is not technically possible to provide that service in terms of cost implications and so on it is a waste of time discussing it.

I suggest a budget be put aside to make it happen and that we liaise with RTE on the cost. Once that is in place we can discuss how it will be implemented and controlled within the Oireachtas and so on. I think it is something that all parties would be in favour of. It would open up the House to the public in a way that has not happened before and it would be a hugely positive development. That is the reason it has happened in so many other countries. RTE has made it absolutely clear that it would be willing to do this and it wants to do it but cannot on its existing budget because the money is not available. Therefore, some budgetary considerations need to be made by the House.

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