Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I also want to put down a marker in this regard. The proposal before us today is the third change in the ministerial rota for parliamentary questions since we came back last week. This used to be a very rare occasion and it was something the Opposition parties and spokespersons were quite happy to accommodate. If a Minister is away on important official business on behalf of the country, that would be accommodated. However, it is becoming part of a pattern whereby Ministers want to be anywhere except in the House. It is going on all the time. Ministerial questions are changed and important debates take place in the House while the relevant Minister is abroad. Rarely now does a Minister come to the House to take the Adjournment debate for which they have direct responsibility.

This is not something we can continue to allow. The sitting year is a short one. Ministers should be able, by and large, to organise their diaries and visits abroad or business of that kind in such a way that they are present in the House to deal with business and account to the House. Within that framework, we can accommodate the odd occasion when something major arises that requires a Minister to be abroad.

I give notice that this is not something we will allow to go without debate in future if the pattern continues. Labour party spokespersons marking the different Ministers will not as readily agree to these arrangements as heretofore.

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