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

-----take political advantage out of a position. There is no reason a banking inquiry by the Oireachtas should not be conducted in a similar fashion.

Where do we stand now as a result of where the Government leads us? The approach, if not in the letter certainly in the spirit, leads to the Constitution being denied, and the Constitution clearly states that the Government shall be responsible to Dáil Éireann. When I say "the Government" I mean the members of the Government and the Government agencies being responsible. I do not believe that is possible with the way we are currently set up in regard to Oireachtas inquiries. The political reality, and this was touched on in the consultation paper of the Law Reform Commission, is that the Oireachtas is responsible to the Government because the Government controls the Dáil. It has a majority. The Government controls the Seanad. It probably has a majority already but Éamon de Valera made sure the Taoiseach's 11 nominees would provide for a Government majority in the Seanad. The Government controls the business of the Oireachtas.

I do not see the Government being genuinely responsible to the Dáil. That concerns me because in the time since I was elected, which is some time ago, I have seen more and more power draining from the Dáil and being seized by the Executive, and many of the processes and procedures of the Dáil aid that position. The inability generally to raise current matters other than on Leaders' Questions two days a week is an example, and the fact that in many instances parliamentary questions are treated virtually with contempt by many Ministers. In some instances parliamentary questions are not answered at all and are referred to some State quango. Some €15 billion - Deputy Rabbitte will correct me if I am wrong - is spent on health services throughout the country, most of it disbursed through the Health Service Executive, yet we cannot discuss the expenditure of that money on the floor of the House by way of parliamentary question or otherwise.

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