Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The new Dáil schedule will also extend sitting times, allowing for an increase in the time for debate, and the Dáil will sit every second Friday to consider legislation put forward by Deputies and committee reports. In order to ensure that Deputies seeking to raise important issues under the new Topical Issue debate can get an effective answer to questions, in future a Minister or Minister of State from a relevant Department must take the issue in the Dáil.

Improving the quality of our democracy is about more than what happens on the floor of the Dáil, and it is also about the culture in which our politics operates. That is why this Government has introduced legislation to restore the Freedom of Information Act, whistleblower measures and the regulation of lobbying, as well as cutting political donations and effectively banning corporate donations. The Irish people deserve a hard-working, efficient and modern Parliament, and the changes proposed today are another step in the right direction.

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