Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

It is now over ten weeks since the Taoiseach first committed to enabling the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to be accountable to the Dáil. As we saw at the weekend, he has been very much available to the national and international media and is even willing to have a public disagreement with the Minister for Finance on the restructuring of the debt. It appears the only people whose questions he is not in a position to answer are Members of Dáil Éireann. There is the motion on the Order Paper that would allow questions to be tabled to him immediately. Passing this motion would mean we would not have to wait until the end of next month at the earliest to question a person who is, even by Deputy Brendan Howlin's own admission, one of the most important Ministers in the Government. With the Taoiseach allow the motion on the Order Paper to be passed without debate to allow us to bring closure to this issue?

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