Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We plan to introduce the d'Hondt system after the next election. We will do that and we have outlined that. That will be a sea change compared with what has happened in past where €20,000 was paid to 26 Members who were chairmen of committees. I remember there was only one member of Deputy Ó Fearghaíl's party from 2007 to 2011 who did not have an extra paid position. I will not name the Deputy but I felt sorry for him and wondered what he did on the former Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern not to get a paid position. There was only one such member. The Deputy should check up on that.

The Taoiseach promised that before any future reforms are brought forward, we will meet the party leaders, receive submissions from the Sinn Féin Party and the Fianna Fáil Party, examine those and bring forward as many of them as possible.

I thank the Deputy for acknowledging that the Friday sittings have been successful. What must ensure some of the Bills that have been accepted are moved further along the legislative chain and incorporated into Bills and brought to the House in terms of enactment. An important development is the consideration of committee reports, and we dealt with the first such report last Friday. The committees do a great deal of work in compiling reports, having brought in representatives of groups and organisations, namely, those with vested interests in an issue, and having often spent money on having people draft a report, although a number of them have been compiled in-house. It is important that those reports are seen to be debated on the floor of Dáil Éireann. It is opportune to have them debated on a Friday bearing in mind the legislation that has to be debated in the House on a Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and that we will try to reduce the number of guillotines applied.

On the Deputy's point regarding family friendly sitting hours and getting the right balance, I do not think there is any parliament in the world that has the right balance in terms of family friendly hours. We have to take into account the Members who travel from constituencies as far away as Limerick, Kerry, Donegal or Mayo. It is not as simple as getting into a car at 8 o'clock in the morning and being outside the gates of Leinster House at 9 a.m. or 9.30 p.m. or leaving here at 5 o'clock in the evening and being home with one's family at 6 o'clock or 7 o'clock. That does not happen and that is not going to happen, but we have to take into account that Members are here, that we sit for as long as is appropriate and look after the Members who go home to their constituencies on a daily basis. I do not believe some of the Dublin Members realise the hours rural Members spend away from their families. Some Members travel to Dublin on a Monday evening or leave home at 6 o'clock or 7 o'clock on a Tuesday morning and do not get home until very late on a Thursday night, they meet their constituents on a Friday morning and may not be home until late on Friday night and, on occasions, they work on Saturday and Sunday. I do not believe that the Members who live near the Dáil realise the sacrifices a great number of rural Deputies make to work in the Oireachtas and keep their Dáil and constituency commitments.

The Deputy raised the issue of a Member who wishes to abstain from a vote having an opportunity to press a button indicating they are present in the Chamber but abstaining. That is a matter we can take up with the Committee on Procedure and Privileges. I do not have a problem with it. We should definitely consider that proposal when we are considering future reforms.

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