Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There is no doubt but that the main focus of the Government is precisely that which has been stressed by the Minister, namely, the maintenance and the creation of jobs and the gradual return to economic growth. I do not believe anyone in this Chamber would argue but that this should have been the priority of the Government for the past three years. On the economic front, the renegotiation of the promissory note, the exit from the bailout and the increasing numbers of people returning to the workplace all bear the hallmarks of a job well done thus far but nothing upon which to rest laurels. I acknowledge the commitment of the people and their dedication towards the task at hand and with three years gone and two more to go, I believe the Government is on a firm course. I acknowledge greatly the work of this partnership Government, which is to be commended.

In the few moments available to me, I wish to address the latter points made by the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation on the issue of Dáil and political reform. Now that the Government is well into the second half of its term, I believe it should embark upon the type of meaningful political and Dáil reform that was the subject matter of the programme for Government. One possible unintended consequence of last year's Seanad referendum was that it had the impact of slowing down the pace of Dáil reform.

People are now speaking of political reform in terms of Seanad reform which, I believe, is at the expense of a commitment to the reform of this institution - Dáil Éireann. I want to see an appetite within Government to accelerate the programme of Dáil reform, especially at a time when this country is undergoing great change in a lot of areas, many of which were adverted to by the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Bruton.

I still believe Government is far too dominant at the expense of this House. A weakened House does not bring out the full potential of many Members from all sides of the House, some of whom have experience and expertise to bring to bear. It is regrettable that because a person is aligned to a minority party interest, often times a commitment, an idea or a constructive approach is lost in what is the adversarial nature of our Parliament. I say that as a former Whip. I accept the challenges the Office of the Government Chief Whip holds in terms of running the schedule and ensuring the legislative programme for Government is delivered on time. However, the stark reality is that reform of these widely held practices represents a big challenge.

Parliaments and assemblies are, by nature, conservative institutions and while we have witnessed a measure of political reform, these initiatives must go much further. The fact the instruments of reform referred to by the Minister, Deputy Bruton, were all introduced, discussed and handed down by Government, without reference to even a debate in this House, is indicative of a weakness we should admit is a cause of concern.

We must conduct a root and branch examination of the role and function of our parliamentary system, including the Seanad which was the subject matter of public debate last year. It is reasonable to assume that had the electorate been asked to vote on a package of Dáil reforms or on the role and functions of the Dáil, it would have acknowledged that we have a most centralised system of Government. It behoves us on this side of the House to ensure we have a package of Dáil reforms that will restore confidence in our political system. It is fair to say there is something of a political disconnect and that the Dáil is not working as it should. We see that on a daily basis in our interaction with society and we should admit it. We should move on with a programme of reform.

There is very little in terms of parliamentary control of Government. The focus centres on the ongoing battle between Government and Opposition rather than the real contest between Government and Parliament - between this House and the adjoining Government Buildings - and a reformed Dáil where Deputies play a central role not only in scrutinising legislation, as was said by the Minister, Deputy Bruton, but in preparing legislation, where the Dáil has the real power to hold to account Ministers and senior officials and where the work of public bodies and regulators is overseen and continuously monitored by Deputies for and on behalf of the people we represent. I do not want to deflect from some of the reforms we have already undertaken but we need to look again at the record in terms of the use of the guillotine. I acknowledge that much of the Opposition criticism in this regard has a certain validity. One need only look at the record and the statistics, which do not lie.

The Topical Issue is a worthwhile mechanism introduced by Government but again there have been occasions when it has proved to be weaker than it should be in terms of the topic at hand, the pre-prepared reply and often the inability of the person giving the reply to answer any form of question that happens to depart, even in a small way, from the script.

I acknowledge the report from the National Women's Council today which should represent something of a wake-up call on the manner in which we do our business. Much of that report could form the basis of reforms we can introduce between now and the end of this Government.

Some Dáil committees are working well but they must be supplemented with proper resources and powers to function properly. The Minister, Deputy Bruton, mentioned debating Bills at draft stage and the input of committees into legislation. While that facility was recently introduced, it is far too early to assess the introduction of this reform as being successful. I refer to the one experience we had, namely, the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill. The record will show that not one line of that Bill changed from its introduction to its completion through the various Stages in this House. That does not accord with the type of political reform to which we look when we say committees will have a major input into legislation from start to finish.

I would like to see a one in four committee week. That would interrupt the scheduling of business in this House but it is a weakness of our committees if, during hearings with expert witnesses, there are interruptions of a very serious nature to the committees' work by dint of a division in this House without notice and often unplanned. Until we have a one in four committee week, the committees will not have the power of oversight or the strength they might otherwise have.

The Office of the Ceann Comhairle needs to be radically transformed. As guardian of the Members, the Ceann Comhairle should preside over the order of questions every morning from a pool submitted in a lottery type fashion. A powerful speaker should be the most important person in this Parliament and should be elected by Members in a secret ballot with a criterion that the speaker should have even a minimum level of cross-party support. An independent Chair would defend Parliament rather than defend Government. The guillotine should not be used without the Ceann Comhairle deliberating on the urgency of legislation or on whether the time for debate has been sufficient. The Ceann Comhairle could determine whether, in the circumstances, Members are filibustering or delaying the passage of the legislation by meaningless discussion. The guillotine should not be used without the imprimatur or the stamp of the independent Chair - the Ceann Comhairle.

Another measure that would strengthen Parliament would be a well-resourced statutory legal office to advise Dáil Éireann in the same way as the Attorney General advises Government. Time and again, we hear that legislation cannot be amended or processed or that a Private Members' Bill is unacceptable to the House or to Government because the Attorney General says it is not appropriate. We never see the advice of the Attorney General, so let us redress that imbalance not by the publication of the Attorney General advise, because it is the duty, under the Constitution, of the Attorney General to advise Government, but by having a strong parliamentary legal advisory office that can provide us, as non-office holding Members of the Parliament, with the type of strengthened advice the Attorney General provides to Government on a daily basis. That office would be available to advise and assist Deputies, groups of Deputies or committees, as required. The current imbalance, which sees the Cabinet and Government served with a full range of legal advices through the Attorney General and Parliament playing no more than a rubber stamping role in many cases, must be redressed if the constitutional function of this House is to be complied with and honoured.

One aspect of political reform that has worked well is the Constitutional Convention, which recently concluded. It was an exciting development and I was privileged to serve on it. It is a pity it did not get the publicity and media attention it deserved. I urge Members of the House who did not have an opportunity to follow the deliberations to read the reports of the convention. I also urge the Government to ensure that those reports are acted upon. I do not believe there is any way of approaching this other than to have a Constitution day, with five, six or seven questions put to the people. That would be an enormous challenge, but one we must prepare for. It might take a year to 18 months to do so. We could divide up this House into groups of ten to 15 Deputies who would promote a particular question being put, on a cross-party basis, to ensure that we have the capacity to ask the Irish people to decide on five or six constitutional questions on the same day. That may sound daunting, but it is not impossible if carefully planned.

In conclusion, over the past three years the Government has been completely focused on job creation and on promoting measures that will see our people return to work. The legacy of this Government can be further underpinned by a programme of real political reform of a type that we have not seen in the last three years but that we must see between now and the end of the Government's term in office.

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