Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

In respect of the Taoiseach's initial reply, does he accept that we are dealing with a bottleneck? Does he accept that legislation, having been agreed at Cabinet, then goes for formal drafting and that the difficulty lies in the technical procedure involved in that? Does he accept that part of the paucity of legislation in recent times has been solely due to the fact that the office is very much understaffed? Having regard to the fact that the primary duty of this House is the enactment of legislation after full deliberation, will the Taoiseach encourage the practice of publishing departmental heads of Bills and transmitting them to this House or possibly its committees for deliberation prior to the legislation coming in initial Bill form? That would allow for the input of Members and could give rise to a more efficient processing of legislation?

The former Minister for labour affairs, Eithne Fitzgerald, possibly pioneered the publication of heads of Bills, a practice which was, unfortunately, discontinued by various Governments led by the Taoiseach. Perhaps his office, in conjunction with the Office of the Minister of State at the Department of Taoiseach, Deputy Tom Kitt, will consider that as a reformist measure of some consequence?

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