Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent)

I will speed up. The jobs initiative is a very good example of the present system not working. We were being asked to vote on extremely important legislation for jobs creation which has potential impacts on the pensions industry yet we did not have anything like the information we needed in order to do that. As we know the role of the Dáil is to hold the Cabinet to account as specified in Article 28.4.1° of the Constitution, which states: "The Government shall be responsible to Dáil Éireann". We need to be provided with the tools to do that.

I welcome the Government's proposal to introduce a constitutional amendment on compulsory powers for committees and hopefully to introduce meaningful questions for Ministers on proposed legislation. I have no ideological objection to political parties and I understand that the whip may be necessary at times. I commend Deputy Eoghan Murphy on the call for greater use of free votes. This is done in other democracies and is seen as a good thing allowing Government backbenchers to use their expertise and represent the people who elected them. The Government backbenches are full of talented people with good ideas and a passion to get things done. It must be extremely frustrating not to be able to hold the Government to account in a meaningful way and essentially to be forced to vote with the Cabinet every time.

We need to address the culture as well as the rules. While I commend the Government on much of what it is proposing, I wish to make three observations on the question of culture. With regard to committees, it appears on this side of the House as if we are being handed a fait accompli with very little input in terms of the number of committees, what they will do and the representation thereon. The Government has over-represented itself on the committees relative to the number of Deputies in the Dáil. That concerns me.

Deputy Stagg's recent and rather insidious contribution to the debate would be fine and we could dismiss him as a fossil of a bygone era if he were not the Labour Party's Whip. He is the Labour Party's person appointed to engage with the Opposition on issues of reform. When the person appointed in this capacity speaks with such contempt and disrespect for a genuine motion tabled by this side of the House on meaningful political reform, it suggests the old culture is alive and well.

The start of the motion, referenced by the Minister for public expenditure and reform, Deputy Howlin, states our democracy needs to be effective, accountable, transparent, representative and participatory. We probably all agree that we fail, to a greater or lesser degree, on all five of those criteria at present. There has been fantastic debate this evening and yesterday on this motion and genuine passion for change was expressed by very many Members. If we can change the rules and the culture of the House, there may be hope for us and for democracy in Ireland.

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