Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)

It will not fool anybody with these proposals because the clear intent is to disenfranchise the Opposition, shield the Government from the limited scrutiny under which we have the ability to put it and stop its actions from being transparent. Every day, questions are not answered. There is either a prepared script or waffle for a minute or two so the Ceann Comhairle can cut across and state there is no time and that we must move on to the next question. This is not good enough. We need a Ceann Comhairle who insists that when a question is asked an answer is given. That would represent debate, dialogue and democratic discussion and evolvement of ideas. It is not the staid nonsense we have at present.

When one finds it difficult enough to have questions answered, the ideas put forward by the Government such as reducing the requirement for the Cabinet to be present, reducing discussion on the Order of Business and limiting it to a shorter period of time will make a very bad situation even worse. It is the complete antithesis of democracy and it is disgraceful. If the Government really wants to do something different it must start outside the Dáil at local authority level and move it up from there.

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