Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I hope I did not leave out any area, having said that. I heard some excellent contributions from Government Deputies. It is very important that we listen to the views of newer Members of the Dáil because they were elected on a mandate of change and reform. Following the disastrous consequences of what happened to the country, people told us on the doorsteps that they wanted ideas on reform and wanted change, which is important in this debate. During the general election campaign I had a leaflet on Dáil reform and I got a mandate from the people of the constituency of Dublin North-Central, now called Dublin Bay North, to introduce such reform.

Among the proposals I put on the table was the creation of real democracy with accountability at every level, transformation of the Seanad, within 12 months, into a genuine forum for civil society or abolition of it and the introduction of a system of vouched expenses for politicians. I welcome those proposals recently adopted.

We also need to make Parliament and this House work. We should cease use of the guillotine system to pass legislation not properly scrutinised, give Dáil committees the power to examine proposals on spending and to hold real inquiries by giving them the power to compel witnesses and documents and make senior public servants responsible for their decisions and actions. We need to bring real transparency to the funding of political parties and compel parties to publish annual accounts. We need to register and control lobbyists, to protect whistleblowers and to ensure all appointments to State and public bodies and the Judiciary are open to public competition and Dáil scrutiny. We also need to ban any individual from being a director of more than three major companies or public bodies. There should also be an urgent review of company law to ensure white collar criminals are brought to justice. We also need to revert to use of the provisions in the original freedom of information legislation. They are the proposals which I put on the table during the last general election in respect of which I received the mandate of people in my constituency. We need to make progress on reform. There is no limit to what can be achieved by a community working together. There is no limit to what can be achieved by a Dáil that is in touch with people and does what it was elected to do.

On the legislation, the reduction in the number of Deputies to 158 is a cost saving measure. There is a need to review the representative role of Deputies, their legislative work and the formation of the Government. Other issues of concern are the breaching of county boundaries, equality of representation, female candidacy and local election areas. I accept that reducing the number of Deputies is a commitment of the programme for Government, the objective of which is to reduce the cost and size of government. Savings in this regard are predicted to be in the region €2.2 million, an amount I question. This could also result in cost savings in running elections with fewer constituencies and seats. While I support the need for reform the Minister, whom I welcome to the House, must ensure there is not less democracy. We already have a problem with that in this State and need to do something about it.

On the quotas issue, while I believe in equality for all sectors of society, I have a major concern around this issue. We must ensure that a person gets a job or is elected based on his or her ability and not because a particular amount of seats are reserved for that purpose.

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