Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

To respond to the Minister of State's point regarding the work of rural Deputies, Dublin Deputies deeply appreciate the lifestyle the Minister of State and his colleagues must pursue to do the work of a Deputy. It is very fair that the Dáil should be organised to recognise that. On the other side, sometimes rural colleagues do not understand the way Dublin Deputies and those who live close to Dublin are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Meetings will be scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, 5 p.m. on a Thursday and so on. We have the issue that we are always accessible. I accept the amazing incredible journeys rural Deputies make and the hardship on their families is something of which the House must always be cognisant.

I believe the decision of the people not to vote "Yes" for the abolition of the Seanad was regrettable. Its abolition would have focused attention on the reform of this House and making it much more effective. The Ceann Comhairle is an experienced Member of the House. I often wonder if it is possible to have a very democratic Dáil while the Executive is in the House. We can look to other parliaments such as France and the United States where the executive is outside the parliament. In some respects, that type of parliamentary system has advantages over the old Westminster system to which we have adhered since Independence.

I congratulate the Ceann Comhairle on Standing Orders relative to public business of 5 November last and on some of the new practices introduced in the Dáil including, as the Minister of State mentioned, the Topical Issue debate, the new arrangement for parliamentary questions and his work in trying to ensure Deputies get responses to their parliamentary questions.

I echo colleagues' views that a good deal of what has happened in the past two and a half years are fairly minor adjustments. We still have a situation, and the Minister of State has admitted, where important Bills, as in the case of the Social Welfare and Pensions Bill recently, are just rammed through the House with minimum debate and a minimum attempt to elucidate the views of the Opposition Members.

The d'Hondt system could be a huge step forward in electing committee chairmen following the next election, but who will be in power? It may not be the Government parties.

The powers of the Ceann Comhairle should be strengthened and enhanced. The House is constrained during Friday sittings from making its own decisions and clearly the Ceann Comhairle and Members who are present should be in charge of what is happening under amended Standing Orders. With regard to the independence of the Ceann Comhairle, perhaps we should follow the House of Commons precisely and provide for a free vote for election to the office when a Dáil assembles.

I refer to the position of Independent Members, particularly Deputies Shortall, Nulty, Keaveney and myself - the social democratic group of the others. There are one or two Independent Deputies present who may be social democrats and who are members of the reform alliance.

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