Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)

The Fine Gael-Labour Government has committed in our programme for Government to radical reform of our entire political system. Dáil and Oireachtas reform is one aspect of what is long-overdue reform of our political system.

I am pleased to recommend to the House a package of reform measures which represents the first phase of the Government's Dáil reform programme. Dáil reform is the shared responsibility of every Member of this House. In the just over four months since the change of Government, the deputy Government Whip, Deputy Emmet Stagg, and I, as Chief Whip, have had a number of meetings with the three Opposition Whips to progress the Dáil reform agenda. These meetings have been very productive because the Whips from all the parties have engaged in the process in a very open-minded, positive and constructive way.

The Government has now brought forward a set of reforms that includes commitments outlined in the programme for Government, issues raised by the Opposition Whips and administrative changes designed to improve the efficiency of the Dáil. These reforms have been discussed at the Dáil reform committee and the Committee on Procedure and Privileges and are now before the House for approval of Members.

This is the first phase of a programme of Dáil reform designed to be implemented over the lifetime of this Government. Work will commence in the autumn on the second phase of the reform which will consider further recommendations made by the Ceann Comhairle and members of the Opposition as well as commitments in the programme for Government that remain outstanding.

The impact of the reforms contained in today's proposals will have a transformative effect on this Dáil. Members on 14 September, following a shortened summer recess, will return to a different Dáil, with new rules and improved procedures. They will return to a Dáil where Members can play a more active and meaningful role in the legislative process and where Members will have more opportunity to raise issues with Ministers in a more effective manner. They will return to a Dáil better equipped to hold the Executive to account, a Dáil that has started to turn back the tide and to recover some of the power it has been losing to the Executive for over a decade. The most important improvements proposed in this first phase of Dáil reform include a topical issue debate. A new system of topical issue debates will be introduced to allow Members to raise topical issues with a Minister for the relevant Department in the Dáil Chamber in the middle of the sitting day. The new topical issue debates will replace the current Adjournment debates. The Adjournment debate system is seen as an afterthought to Dáil business rather than one of the primary ways in which Deputies, including Government Deputies, can hold the Government to account. The Adjournment debates scheduled at the end of the sitting day are often overlooked and forgotten. In recent years, the practice of a junior Minister reading scripts on behalf of a number of Departments about a range of issues unrelated to his or her Department has developed. In opposition Labour and Fine Gael criticised the format of the Adjournment Debate especially when Ministers who had no connection with the Department responded to the debate. We made a commitment in the programme for Government to reform this system and now we will.

Time will be allocated for 12 topical issue debates during the full sitting week and these debates will be held in the middle of the Dáil sitting day and not the last thing before the Dáil adjourns for the day. On Tuesdays, four topical issue debates will start at 5:06 p.m.; on Wednesdays, four topical issue debates will start at 3.45 p.m.; and on Thursdays four topical issue debates will start at 3.42 p.m. Each item selected for the topical issue debate will be given an allocation of 12 minutes. The proposer will introduce the debate for four minutes; the Minister or Minister of State will have four minutes to reply; the proposer will have two minutes for a supplementary question; and the Minister or Minister of State will have two minutes for a concluding statement.

The Minister or Minister of State for the relevant Department will, except in exceptional circumstances, be the one to respond to the debate on behalf of the Government. The new system of topical issue debates will give Deputies in the Dáil the opportunity to raise current issues with a Minister from the relevant Department early in the Dáil sitting day. This is a vast improvement on the existing system and I believe it will be welcomed by Deputies across the House.

Leaders Questions will be taken by the Tánaiste on Thursdays with 21 minutes allocated on Thursday at 10.30 a.m. before the Order of Business to allow the Opposition parties raise issues in a Leader's Questions format. These questions will be taken, except in exceptional circumstances, by the Tánaiste. Leader's Questions are the most high profile and effective method by which Opposition parties hold the Government to account. They are the main focus of media attention on any sitting day, even being televised live on RTE One on Wednesdays. By increasing the weekly allocation of Leader's Questions by 50% the Government is voluntarily providing the Opposition parties an opportunity to hold the Government to account in the Dáil Chamber.

There will be Friday sittings for Deputies to introduce their own legislation. This change will enhance the legislative role of Deputies. Under the current system the Executive has almost a monopoly on the formation of legislation in the Dáil. Opposition Deputies can only use Opposition Private Members' time to introduce a Bill and Government Deputies have no such outlet. The new system will allow Deputies an opportunity to be part of the law-making process by giving them an opportunity to write and publish their own Bills and then submit those Bills to be debated in the Dáil. The Dáil will sit on the first Friday of every month and this sitting will be dedicated to providing time to allow Deputies introduce their own Bills.

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