Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

I wish the Minister of State, Deputy Curran, well in his new job as Government Chief Whip. I am sure he will take on board the concerns as outlined by Members both today and at the sub-committee.

When I hear of Dáil reform under the current procedures, I think of Emperor Nero, fires and cities in Italy and that this matter is not being taken seriously. At 5.30 p.m., when everyone else is heading home from work, we will be arguing about the Order of Business. That is surely testament to the total irrelevance of this place. The reason I came into the House was that in the initial reply, the Minister of State mentioned making a submission on Dáil reform to Cabinet. Cabinet has no place in Dáil reform, this is the Dáil, it does not relate to Cabinet reform. If submissions are made to Cabinet, they will come back with the stamp of Government Ministers, that is the problem. It is the abdication of responsibility on the part of Ministers, the Minister for Health and Children being the worst culprit, with Ministers having no regard at all for the procedures of the House or its constitutional position in terms of answerability.

The Minister of State mentioned Adjournment debates. There are 12 such debates per week. Looking back over the last 50 such debates, how many Cabinet Ministers attended and answered questions addressed to them by Members of this House? I guarantee I could count the number of such occasions on the fingers of one hand.

I was out of this House for five years. I came back in 2007 and I can say that standards in this place have dropped. The attitude of the Government towards Parliament has decrease considerably and that should change. If the Minister of State can achieve that on his watch, he will leave a mark.

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