Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I want to deal with this issue. The Taoiseach has addressed it in a glib way. Either we are serious about reforming this House or we are not. With respect, the Minister promised that amending legislation would be brought forward and at the time we agreed with the passage of the Bill in the expectation that amending legislation would be brought forward in the first quarter of the year. We are now into the second quarter and there is a serious appointment to be made in the House. My question is simple. Are we going to do deal with this transparently or are we going to go back and do it as we did in the 1950s?

The Taoiseach gave Deputy Adams a load of babble about his frustration with the time taken up by questions and legislation and how we have sat longer and longer. It sounded fantastic but here is a concrete issue on which the Taoiseach can live up to commitments made by the Government in December, even after the election and the programme for Government.

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