Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)

I am very interested in the debate about how we do our business in this House. As a member of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission, I see at first hand the way we run and do our business.

One matter on which I want to focus is the way we communicate our message, what we are doing and how we do it. Regardless of whether we like it, we are elected by the people for the people. We have a duty to those people to report back to them.

We saw the amount of time the media devoted to a scurrilous remark and how people were interested in that. However, that is the media's job. As public representatives and as the Oireachtas, we need to get back into the many media, such as local newspapers and local radio stations, where people learn about what we do. Some of the county and regional newspapers carry reports from here which would only go to some parts of the country. This is an area that should be expanded. It is a successful way of getting out the message of what we are doing.

The need for change has been addressed. As one who is here only seven years, I am at times very frustrated about even getting a proper answer, whether through parliamentary questions or raising matters on the Adjournment, where we do not get to the core of the issue.

At some time in the future we should give much more time to the type of ideas Deputy Bruton has come up with and the ideas others came up with in the past. It is all about managing our business in a better way and communicating it to the public.

It is easy to take a cheap shot at politicians and at the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission for the way it does its business. Since I have become a member of the commission, I have noted across the political divide that at all times we have endeavoured to cut back on spending where possible. We will continue to do that because that is what we are asked to do.

For example, when we proposed the changes to Members' expenses, how long did it take for the Department of Finance to sign off on them? Nothing has frustrated me more in the past six months than to listen to Members asking was the change coming about. A member of the audit committee resigned because he was not even sure who was holding it up. In fact, the commission had already at that time made proposals, but somebody resigned, giving out the message that it was because the commission had not made up its mind on the expenses regime. That is unfair and unjust on the commission. The way we do our business must be changed.

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