Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

The line Minister moves very slowly. The Minister, Deputy Gormley, told the House last night that he was going to fast-track the appointment of an electoral commission. This was his excuse for having his party vote against the proposal that there should be a time limit on by-elections, as presented by Fine Gael. The proposal to have an electoral commission was promised in the original programme for Government, which the Minister and the Taoiseach concluded three years ago. After three years it is somewhat rich to have the line Minister saying that he is going to fast-track it. I do not have a great deal of confidence that a Minister who is only now talking about fast-tracking something that was promised three years ago is going to introduce the additional legislation the Government promised in 2009.

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