Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

That is not a way to deal with elected Members of Parliament. If the Oireachtas is the constitutional body charged with holding the Government to account, as is our solemn constitutional duty, the Executive must respect this role. Why would it do so if we do not assert these rights? These matters are fundamental to having a functioning Parliament. The Labour Party proposes that where, in future, non-answers or insulting, inadequate or evasive answers are provided, the Ceann Comhairle will have a role in determining that the relevant Minister failed to provide reasonable information in reply to a question and require him or her to answer the question. I know from my role as Leas-Cheann Comhairle that Members are at the mercy of Ministers and, more especially, officials in the Departments. Decisions are frequently made by senior officials, without reference to a Minister, to disallow questions that are in order. They seek ways to disallow questions, debates and Adjournment matters. This should not occur if we are to have a functioning Parliament that holds the Executive to account as the Constitution requires.

The motion proposes empowering Oireachtas committees to deal effectively with matters of public expenditure, including value for money issues. The range of proposals in this area is complicated and I do not have time to discuss them in detail. We must do this, however, because it cannot be the role of the House to always look backwards to see what awful mistakes have been made. The House must dip into expenditure on a current basis to ascertain not only whether it has been spent in the manner voted by the House, but also that it is spent effectively and efficiently.

Another of our 29 proposals addresses the profound matter of the aftermath of the Abbeylara judgment. Since the judgment in the Abbeylara case - I confess that I was a member of the relevant sub-committee - the House has backed off taking any investigative role. The Committee of Public Accounts, the only committee of the House that has teeth, has also backed off making any overt criticism of any official because the spectre of Abbeylara hangs over the way in which the House does its business. This is wrong and the judgment must be rolled back.

The Oireachtas is the only Parliament in the world that I have studied - I have also asked the Library and Research Service to examine other parliaments - which does not have the power to investigate and find matters of fact. It is astounding that this level of impotence is tolerated in a functioning Parliament, yet we do so.

Addressing the Abbeylara judgment may ultimately require constitutional change. If that is the case, we must make the necessary change but let us first draft legislation to test the limits of the current constitutional position. I do not believe the very narrow interpretation the House has placed on the Abbeylara judgment to spancil its work was intended in the majority decision in the Abbeylara case. The matter must be put right.

Taken together, the proposals before us would change the way the Oireachtas works, make it more effective and give people confidence that we can hold the Executive and others to account and do business effectively.

On a wider government scale, the Labour Party proposes the complete reform of the annual Estimates process to make it more timely and relevant. It is proposed, for example, to accompany the Book of Estimates with a detailed performance report on what the previous year's expenditure has achieved. Currently, one is given a list of figures for the current year and a further list for the forthcoming year. One then compares the two lists to determine what changes have been made. Questions are not asked about what money was spent on, whether it achieved success, if the outcomes were those intended or whether the entire sum was expended on the purpose for which it was allocated.

Earlier, the Tánaiste answered questions on how much of the allocation for the capital programme of the Department of Education and Skills had not been spent and the House discussed ways in which the outstanding amount could be spent. This is a hopeless approach to dealing properly with public accounts.

The Labour Party proposes the establishment of an independent fiscal advisory council to perform a monitoring function and provide accurate projections. This would enable Members to rely on independent projections of the macroeconomic position to make important decisions.

We propose to appeal the gagging clause to enable senior officials to express their views on Government policy. Why should we not allow them to do so? Most important, we propose to replace the Ministers and Secretaries Acts and Public Service Management Act with clear legislation - this is extremely important - to set out the functions, powers and duties of Ministers and every official in order that there will be clear lines of accountability and no more talk of systemic failures. Nothing is a failure in this country; the system always fails but nobody makes a cock up or mistake. We need to have accountability for Ministers, Ministers of State and senior officials.

Taken together, this package of measures, which will be part of a much wider package the Labour Party will publish, will change the landscape of public administration in Ireland.

In the past, Oppositions always have sought change and Governments always wanted the status quo. The Labour Party commits itself to profound and meaningful change now, with a real prospect of Government into the future. At a time of crisis for his country and his presidency, Abraham Lincoln stated:

The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise [to] the occasion.

One shall see tonight and tomorrow whether this House is ready for the challenge of change. However, reading the Government's pitiful amendment that promises more but delivers nothing gives me little faith.

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