Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Yes, they do. I would encourage the Minister of State to correct the interpretation Deputy Durkan has taken.

The Minister of State mentioned guillotines. I would encourage him to list the Bills that were guillotined in the last session, one of which was the Social Welfare Bill. Regretfully, that Bill was guillotined by the Government for no reason to do with a lack of time in this House or lack of Government time. The Minister of State might inform the Dáil of the real reason the Social Welfare Bill was guillotined in the last session, which was because the Government was afraid of the lack of a Seanad majority.

In regard to the topic under discussion, what are the specific proposals we will see forthcoming on Dáil reform and political reform? There have been a number of Dáil reform meetings and some technical changes have been suggested, as well as some major changes. Perhaps the Houses of the Oireachtas and all Members would be interested in that. Has consideration been given to changing the make-up of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission to ensure all political groupings in the Houses are represented on the body that takes key decisions on the running and the expenditure of the Houses? I have put forward other proposals at Dáil reform meetings and, while I am not asking the Minister of State to say yes or no immediately, all of the Whips and all of the parties have published suggestions for legislative change, Dáil reform and political reform. Hopefully, these questions will stimulate that debate once again.

With regard to the Constitutional Convention, when is it intended to have the debates on the most recent reports? I believe the fourth report is to be debated at some stage this month. If that does not happen, we will be running contrary to the remit that each convention's report had to be debated within four months of the Dáil receiving it. I know that report was received in November so there is a need for that debate.

Are there plans for political reform in regard to the local authorities? The Government has already made major changes, mostly to the detriment of democracy, in terms of reducing the powers of local authorities and adding quangos to the list of existing quangos. Is it intended at some stage to give some of the power back to local authorities or will more and more power be centralised, not in the Houses of the Oireachtas but in the Executive, given these groups are answerable only to the Minister and are not answerable to this House?

Is there any intention to allow Deputies to put written parliamentary questions during periods of recess to ensure the Executive is still answerable to both Opposition and backbench Deputies? We need to continue the work of scrutinising legislation and ensuring the Executive is answerable to the Dáil even when the Dáil is not formally sitting, for example, when it is adjourned during the summer months.

There are a number of other issues. I hope the Minister of State will be able to outline some of the timetable of the political reform and Dáil reform that was intended when the Government took office, not all of which I agree with, but some of which I have already welcomed.

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