Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

The committee system has a large responsibility. I suggest that should be used for effective scrutiny. Although I am not a close watcher of everything going on in every committee, from my observations I note that committees decide their own agendas as to who attends and when depending on what issue arises daily or weekly, when they could set out a strategic job of work to be done. If we used the potential of the reforms I have outlined which would bring relevance to debate in a timely manner it would be helpful to the Executive and the standing of the House.

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