Martin Ferris (Kerry North, Sinn Fein)

One of the promises made in the civic life section of the programme for Government is to reform the Dáil. As the Government has decided to go ahead with the pay rises for Ministers, albeit deferred for one year, will the Taoiseach use the opportunity to increase productivity? For example, will he revert to the practice, as he did prior to the previous Dáil, where he answered questions on a Thursday? Will he also get his Ministers to answer questions more often than every five or six weeks?

The programme for Government includes a commitment to set up an independent electoral commission. When will the commission be set up and will it review electoral boundaries before local elections are held in 2009? When will work on the new rolling national electoral register, also included in the programme for Government, start?

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