Peter Mathews (Dublin South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

That is correct. The President will be signing all laws. That is why it is relevant. For the last 24 months, two Members of this House, Deputies Clare Daly and Mick Wallace, delivered in spades in accordance with that proposed section. They were representatives of the whole people in their endeavour to pull back the curtains on shortcomings by the Garda Síochána and the Department of Justice and Equality. That is relevant to the first part of the section. They were responsible only to their consciences not to any neurotic or superstitious conscience that could be learned from a strict religion, party or any other organisation, be it a business, an association, an institute or a university. They acted with their consciences and with an understanding of the solemnity of the overarching requirement to be a representative of the whole people.

I will give another example of why that section should not have been dismissed just because the numbers on the Government benches far outweigh everyone else. The section would protect individual party members. I posit the example of a new party with 200,000 members of all ages, from 16 years to more than 100 years. The members convene for their first convention or Ard Fheis in Dublin because it is handy to get there and for three days they put forward policies for health, education and taxation. They propose policies for their manifesto, debate them and amend them before all 200,000 men and women unanimously approve them. The manifesto is, therefore, unanimously approved. That new party then decides to put up candidates for election to the Oireachtas. Let us assume that the Minister, Deputy Kelly, is unanimously approved as a candidate for the following general election. There is a unanimously approved manifesto under the aforementioned three policy areas and a unanimous candidate who wins a seat in the election. Having been duly elected, and regardless of whether he is a Minister or an ordinary Member of the Dáil, he is under a solemn obligation to be a representative of the whole people. He also carries out the mandate unanimously approved by the members of his party.

However, 12 months later a pandemic arrives in Ireland which affects not only the 200,000 members of his party but also the entire population of 4.5 million. The safeguard section for parliamentary representation confers a responsibility on him to be aware of conscience and social policy awareness. The World Health Organisation and the best medical practitioners and brains convene to help Ireland withstand this pandemic, which is far worse than the Ebola virus. It is lethally contagious. The best medical advice indicates that the party's unanimously agreed health policy is contraindicated. The Minister, Deputy Kelly, as the party's representative in the Dáil, has to refer to his overarching responsibility under the section, to act as a representative of the whole people and to listen to the medical advice. He is not bound by orders and instructions because he is being responsible to his conscience in taking on board the best advice from medical practitioners and policy makers, even though it is at odds with what his party agreed.

That is why the proposed section would act as a huge safeguard for every Member of these Houses. At present, party leaders tell Members to obey party policy or be disenfranchised from committees or be denied speaking time in statements on European Council meetings.

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