Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is a sad day when we are discussing the abolition of Seanad Éireann. The Minister, Deputy Phil Hogan, is well aware of my party's view on the issue. When the Government came to power there was talk of a democratic revolution, but what has actually happened could not be further from that declaration. In fact, the Government has succeeded only in feeding into the cynicism and dissatisfaction of the public in regard to the practice of politics in this country. It has engaged in a series of broken promises and populist measures, of which there are too many examples to name. The Minister, for instance, signed a pledge for the pro-life movement, which is very relevant in the context of another Bill that is progressing through the House this week. It is no wonder there is deep-rooted dissatisfaction with politics in this State.

Unfortunately, the Bill before us today merely represents the culmination of an ongoing power grab by the Minister, the Taoiseach and their colleagues. The Minister has demonstrated the same tendency to power-grabbing in his own brief in respect of local government. His policy document, Putting People First, contrary to its title, will serve only to weaken the autonomy and decision-making powers of local authority members. We are seeing the silo effect in overdrive, with the Government centralising power at Cabinet level while seeking to remove any obligation to subject itself to adequate scrutiny and oversight. As I said, it is a very sad day.

This legislation, as well as representing a power grab by Government, is fundamentally anti-democratic. The Government has never satisfactorily explained why it did not refer this issue for consideration to the Constitutional Convention, even though other relatively minor issues, such as voting ages and the electoral system, were so referred. I was shadow spokesman on the environment for a time, during which I engaged with the Minister on some of these issues. The Government's efforts thus far in the area of Dáil reform have been a complete joke. In the case of Friday sittings, for example, there is no provision for Leaders' Questions and no Order of Business. In the absence of his Cabinet colleagues, the Government Chief Whip seems to have been saddled with the chore of representing the Government on most Fridays. No committees sit on Fridays, divisions cannot be taken in the Dáil, parliamentary questions cannot be tabled and no points of order can be raised. The sittings are an utter sham.

Another aspect of Dáil reform that has been much heralded by the Government is the introduction of the Topical Issues debate but, again, it has proved disappointing. We were promised, for example, that the relevant Minister would be in the Chamber to respond to matters raised, but that very rarely happens.

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