Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is essential that the Taoiseach meet the leaders of the Opposition parties and other groups to discuss how the House is being run and that he make time available to discuss the political proposals in the programme for Government pertaining to Dáil reform. What is happening is bringing the House into continual disrepute. The idea that the Government can repeatedly change the schedule overnight without reference to the Opposition to ram something through the House should be unacceptable in any modern parliament. We have seen this happen in the case of Irish Water and IBRC. It is not good enough. He is running the House into the ground and I think he is doing it deliberately because with the election approaching, it suits him to shut down the House as often as he can. It also happened last week. The Taoiseach knew Prince Charles was coming on Tuesday and there were no questions on that day. The same will happen next week. Will the Taoiseach allocate time to debate this issue and agree to meet the leaders of the Opposition parties, even at the end stage of this Dáil, in order that we can have some credibility in how we do our business as a Parliament for the people of the country? He is undermining parliamentary democracy at its core.

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