Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

Does the Minister of State agree that all reform which comes before the House - this has certainly been the case during my time as a Member - favours the parties in Government? The reason for this is that those in Government refuse to listen to the Opposition. If a change of Government ever occurs, the latter will hope to treat the former with the same contempt.

Does the Minister of State also agree that FOI requests should not be treated as being on an equal footing with parliamentary questions? Such questions are the best means of obtaining information in these Houses of Parliament. People with a subjective agenda should not be allowed to equate parliamentary questions with FOI requests.

Does the Minister of State agree that some Departments regard Oireachtas committees as extensions or appendages of themselves? To work properly, the committee system must operate as part of the Parliament. These are parliamentary, not departmental, committees and the Department should do nothing other than preparing Ministers to come before them in order to discuss matters with Members.

When Opposition Members raise matters on the Adjournment, either the relevant Minister does not attend in the House or else a single Minister replies in respect of three or four such matters. Ultimately, this means that the House is being treated with contempt. It would be of major assistance if the Government treated the Opposition and the Houses of Parliament with a little respect. This, in turn, would go a long way towards engendering respect among members of the public for the Houses.

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