Dáil debates

Wednesday, 1 December 2010

11:00 am

Photo of John CurranJohn Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)

No, we shall do some business. I want to be serious for a moment, however, and go back. I agree with much of what Deputy Stanton said. He went into considerable detail about the Adjournment debate and the significant difference between this House and the Seanad. Before I became Chief Whip I was Minister of State in a Department where I was frequently asked to do Adjournment debates. I make no secret of the fact that when going to the Seanad it was not a question of just reading the script. One had to know what the issue was and understand it.

While I substituted for Ministers and Ministers of State at times in areas that were not my direct responsibility, it called for a degree of preparation and understanding, and I acknowledge that. The purpose of Adjournment debates, often, is not to be confrontational but to elicit information. Sometimes it happens that the manner in which the debate is put down is not very clear, so that one does not know what Members are trying to get at. I believe the Adjournment debate has much more potential from that viewpoint, as regards the structure of the question - remember, the answers will have been prepared - and the delivery of the answer. Having seen the performance of the Adjournment in the Seanad and the manner in which supplementaries are handled there, in contrast to the Dáil, I agree with some of Deputy Stanton's comments in that regard.

He talked about making change in an incremental manner. That has not been possible because there has not been consensus in this regard. However, I make this comment seriously in the light of the last point raised by the Deputy. I am in this position about six months, Members get set in their ways whether one likes it or not and it is difficult to get consensus on agreement to change. A new Dáil session is imminent and I believe we should be looking at those areas where agreement has been reached on change, which could be incremental. I know Deputy Stagg disagrees with this, because he has drawn some lines in the sand to the effect that if we do not go beyond certain proposals, we make no progress whatsoever.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.