Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to contribute briefly on this debate. It is important that changes be made to the way in which we do business. Many calls have been made to make the Dáil more family friendly and these calls relate to sitting times. An attempt should be made to achieve consensus in this regard. We have been talking about it for a long time. When I was first elected to the Dáil, in the same year as Deputy Kenny, we sat until 10.30 p.m. every night. One of the first changes, under Dr. Garret FitzGerald, I believe, was to make sitting times more reasonable. I actually agreed with Dr. FitzGerald at the time. Our party believed the sky would fall in if we changed the traditional sitting time. However, the change was made. If one is to attract young people and female candidates to the Dáil, more family friendly sitting times are required. We all agree with that.

The ability to raise topical issues of concern to Members and making the Dáil more efficient are very important. We have been talking about the raising of topical issues for years but we have not made much progress on it. It is important to be able to receive answers to the questions one asks rather than being told they are being dealt with by an agency, authority or executive. That is very frustrating for Members.

The issue of transparency and openness also arises. It is very difficult in respect of Cabinet confidentiality, as former Taoiseach John Bruton found out. He talked about trying to operate the Government behind a pane of glass. One cannot operate in such a manner if one is dealing with important matters that cannot be discussed outside the Cabinet room. In fairness to Mr. John Bruton, he favoured many reforms affecting the operation of both the Seanad and Dáil.

I welcome in particular the points in the motion on spending limits for elections. There should be a reduction in the ceiling for European elections and general elections. There is legislation on spending limits for local elections. These limits were put in place last year by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy John Gormley. Those spending limits range from €7,500 to €15,000, depending on the population within one's local electoral area.

It is most important that we put an end to the sense of exclusion felt by so many people. It is important to have more people involved in making decisions. I welcome in particular the Lisbon treaty's establishment of a petition system for the European Parliament. We certainly should have such a system. Decisions should be made as close to the people as possible. One fault of the HSE, by comparison with what was formerly the Western Health Board, is that decisions formerly made locally by a CEO are now made in some very faraway places. It takes much longer for a decision to be taken.

I would welcome an increase in Dáil sitting days, the introduction of shorter summer recesses and reduced breaks at Christmas and Easter.

While lobbying is a very legitimate activity and while public representatives engage in it all the time, I understand that the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy John Gormley, is considering the regulation of lobbyists and intends to bring proposals in this regard before the Government in due course. I very much welcome his intention in this regard.

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