Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)

Scrutiny, okay. We will not fall out over semantics.

He talks about setting up a sub-committee of one of the existing committees of the Houses. Does the Minister realise what he is doing? There is a model that has worked well since the foundation of the State. It is embedded in statute and it is the model we should be following. Setting up a sub-committee is the last thing the Minister should do. It has no statutory basis, could be chaired by anybody, has no assured existence and might not last beyond the next election which could be in a month's time. That is no assurance to the House or the people.

I will not make a personal remark but I have an awful feeling that the Minister has become a prisoner of the Department.

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