Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael)

Is mór an onóir domsa a bheith anseo mar Theachta Dála ó Dáilcheantar Luimní chun an óráid seo a thabhairt. Seo an chéad uair dom seasamh chun labhairt sa Dáil. Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil le muintir Luimní as ucht an toradh a thug siad dúinn san olltoghchán. Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil go háirithe le mo thuismitheoirí, mo chlann, lucht tacaíochta Fhine Gael, na daoine a thug cabhair dom i rith an toghcháin agus leis an slua a thug a vótaí dom. Táim fíor-bhuíoch dóibh go léir. As this is my first contribution to the House, I take this opportunity to thank the people of County Limerick for the honour they have bestowed on me to be their representative in Dáil Éireann. I also thank my supporters, family and the Fine Gael Party for their help during the election.

It is clear to me from speaking to people in my constituency that there is significant goodwill for the new Government. People throughout the country have genuine hope that the new Taoiseach and Tánaiste and their Ministers will be able to lead Ireland out of the economic wilderness into which their predecessors led us. The programme for Government agreed between the coalition partners provides the cornerstone on which Ireland can restructure itself and rebuild its international credibility. The concept of political reform will be central to rebuilding our economy and restoring trust between politics and the electorate. Having contested the election and listened at the doorsteps to the views expressed by voters, I am delighted the Taoiseach and Tánaiste have put political reform and accountability at the centre of their plans for the future and I welcome the opportunity given to the House today to discuss the effectiveness of Oireachtas committees. Like Deputy Ó Snodaigh, I concur that initially I thought this debate would be a window-dressing exercise. However, the contributions made have been quite effective.

It is clear that during the lifetime of the previous Government, Oireachtas committees were set up to reward backbenchers who had missed out on being appointed to either ministerial or junior ministerial posts. I welcome the proposed reduction in the number of committees so that as a result a real opportunity will be provided to Deputies and Senators to devote quality time to their membership of committees. The reduction in the number of committees is only one part of what is required to make the committee system work. Strong committees are the hallmark of a strong, accountable parliamentary democracy. This was evidenced here during the investigations into DIRT by the Committee of Public Accounts. However, we also have evidence of the weakness of our system. I welcome the commitment of the Government to bring forward a constitutional referendum that will help redress the balance. A previous contributor referred to the patronage element attached to committees and hoped the current Government would not go down that route. I agree. However, given the fact this contributor is the former Minister for Finance, his comments smack of some hypocrisy. The debates in this House over the last few days on the report of the tribunal of inquiry generally did not focus on a key issue, namely, the ineffectiveness, cost, duration and cumbersome nature of the tribunal system. By any stretch of the imagination, 14 years is too long a timespan for issues of public importance to be investigated.

A strong committee system with powers to compel witnesses, arrive at conclusions and make recommendations should be the replacement mechanism for investigating issues of public importance, and we should not be in a position in this House where the establishment of unwieldy tribunals of inquiry are our only recourse to accountability. One of the most important committees that will be established during the lifetime of this Dáil will be that which addresses the collapse of our banking sector and the legacy of the last Administration's failure to regulate and govern a sector that has caused widespread destruction to our international reputation and our economy, and which has left a scar on families and individuals across our country. Those politicians, officials, bankers and auditors, who continued to give a clean bill of health year after year to the Irish economy and its banking system, must be brought before a properly and constituted public committee and account for their actions and inaction.

The remit of our committee system must be expanded. All bodies, be they Departments, semi-State companies, agencies, authorities, councils or any group in receipt of public finance, regardless of scale, must be compelled to answer questions and be held to account for their actions by Oireachtas committees, if called upon to do so by the Oireachtas committee members. The days of agencies hiding behind a screen where line Ministers absolve themselves of their responsibilities, given to them under our Constitution, must end. Oireachtas committees must be empowered to receive what other functioning democracies take for granted, which is the truth.

I am honoured to represent the people of Limerick in the Dáil and I look forward to working with my constituency colleagues, Deputies Neville and Collins, and with my Government colleagues in providing an effective level of representation in the Dáil. The public are tired of looking at a broken political system that is not delivering to the citizen and the initiative by the Government to ask Deputies to help design an effective committee system is a good first step in reversing that trend.

See this speech in context