Eamonn Maloney (Dublin South West, Labour)

I support the Bill. Like Deputy Donnelly, I extend my good wishes to the Minister as he embarks on a project that has never been undertaken in this State. We are in a pretty bad place economically and it is very difficult to have any discussion in the House without referring to that. Having listened to the debates of other Members, I noted it is virtually impossible without referring to what has happened in recent days.

Everyone has his own outlook on public servants. When politicians talk about public and civil servants, they talk as if they are excluded from that category. We do ourselves a disservice when we do so. I am not one who is agitated by surveys in newspapers. A recent survey of the pecking order in careers – I do not like using the word "careers" in terms of politics – shows that those of us who have volunteered to enter this House and who are honoured to have been elected are the bottom in terms of public perception. I always believe public perception is basically reality, whether we like it or not. It reflects how we are thought about outside the House.

This Bill offers an opportunity to change circumstances for the good, not just in terms of civic responsibilities. While I accept Deputy Donnelly's point on the value of public servants and their desire to do a good job, which he explained very well, the reality is that most members of the public would not share that view in regard to Members of this House.

One of the good aspects about this Bill, given the position we are in, is that this Minister has an opportunity of transforming politics not just for our sake, but out of civic responsibility.

In terms of the legacy, we cannot blame someone else because the economy is on its knees. It was some of our own who did that. We cannot blame on this occasion the British Empire, the Americans or the French. Those days are gone. We must take responsibility now for what has happened.

I am one of those people who believe we have not always covered ourselves in glory in terms of what we did with our independence. I admire the Members of past Dála who sat in this Chamber in those early days, and I am not just talking about those in my own party, the Labour Party, but across parties. In terms of what happened subsequently, we went in a completely different direction in terms of civic responsibility, real politics, morality issues and all of those aspects. I would have great difficulty in defending much of what has gone on inside this House in modern times and the conduct of some people. We have to put ourselves in that category and not exclude politicians from public service.

When we talk about reforms we should start from the top, and that means us. We are running the country - some people say we are supposed to be running the country - but when we talk about changing the nature of this House and making savings that could contribute towards getting some of the more than 400,000 people off the live register, that can only be something good but there is a great deal of work to be done in that area.

As I said at the outset, this Bill represents a good opportunity and we will all be judged on it, not just people like myself on the Government side of the House but all of us here. Critics are ten a penny but putting forward rational arguments against what the Minister will bring forward is the responsibility of those in Opposition, and perhaps those on this side of the House also in terms of putting forward feasible arguments for or against this Bill.

I wish the Minister well. I support the Bill and look forward to the transformation this Bill can bring about to politics and to public life.

See this speech in context