Anthony Lawlor (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle's office for allowing us to raise this topic. I welcome the Taoiseach to the Chamber. That this might be the first Topical Issue he has taken, it shows how much respect he has for this topic.

I wish to highlight two matters, the first of which is Friday sittings. As I have often stated, Friday sittings are just time-consuming efforts. We do not have a vote and we normally only debate one Bill. Proposals have been made to provide for additional Bills to be tabled on Fridays, but it is difficult for a backbencher to get a Bill on which he or she has worked onto the Order Paper. A number of the Bills on the Order Paper, particularly on Tuesdays, have been outstanding since the Dáil's first sitting in 2011. This issue must be tackled. Just as Private Members' business can be used to debate Bills, perhaps we can move back bench Bills from Friday and discuss them in a private Bills session, allowing us to vote at that time. I hope that some consideration will be given to this suggestion.

I wish the reform of the committee structure to continue. It is important that civil society be involved in the initiation of legislation. We saw the success of that process during the abortion Bill. It would give civil society every opportunity to introduce new and different ideas before Bills are published and allow consensus to be reached instead of the Houses debating Bills on Second Stage, by which time Ministers might not be willing to accept backbenchers' ideas.

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