Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to respond in the House on behalf of the Government to the remaining reports of the Convention on the Constitution. I will deal with the seventh, eighth and ninth reports, and I wish to share my time with my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Ann Phelan, who will deal with the fifth report.

The establishment of the convention was approved by resolution of both Houses of the Oireachtas. Membership of the convention comprised 66 ordinary citizens randomly selected, 33 politicians drawn from political parties North and South, and an independent chairman. The Oireachtas resolutions set out eight specific topics that the convention was asked to consider and report on to the Oireachtas. These topics were examined by the convention in its first six reports. Ministers from the relevant Departments have already given the Government's response in the House to five of these six reports of the Convention on the Constitution: the first report, on reducing the voting age and the length of the presidential term, on 18 July 2013; the second report, on the role of women and women in politics, on 10 October 2013; the third report, on same-sex marriage, on 17 December 2013; the sixth report, on blasphemy, on 2 October 2014; and the fourth report, on electoral reform, on 18 December 2014. In responding to these five reports, the Government accepted four recommendations for constitutional change: removing the offence of blasphemy from the Constitution; reducing the voting age to 16; reducing the age threshold for candidacy in presidential elections; and marriage equality. The Government held referendums on reducing the age threshold for candidacy for presidential elections and marriage equality in May 2015. The marriage equality referendum passed by a majority of 62.1%. This is the first time a proposal for constitutional change put forward by a constitutional convention resulted in actual constitutional change.

I will turn now to the seventh report. The Oireachtas resolutions said that, having completed its reports on the items addressed in its first six reports, the convention could report on such other items as it saw fit. The convention chose two items under this heading, and its seventh report deals with the first of these, namely, Dáil reform. Before I respond on the report itself, I should recall that the Government has already implemented a wide range of Dáil reforms since taking office, many of which have had a significant impact on the way in which the House conducts its business. The process of parliamentary reform is, and always must be, an ongoing one. This Government can be proud of its record in this area. For decades, under previous Governments, reform of the Dáil and Oireachtas committees was ignored. Since taking office the Government has supported Dáil and committee reform by implementing a range of important measures, including the following: increasing the number of Dáil sitting days from 93 days a year under the previous Government to 123 days a year; introducing an additional session of Leaders' Questions on Thursdays; reforming ministerial Question Time by extending each slot to 75 minutes and requiring the Member asking the question to be present in the Chamber, and enabling a Member who is dissatisfied with an answer to a Parliamentary Question to appeal in writing to the Ceann Comhairle; replacing the outdated Adjournment Debate with Topical Issue debates taken by a Minister from the relevant Department, and allowing Deputies to postpone the debate if a Minister from that Department is not available; the addressing of the Dáil each year by the Taoiseach and Tánaiste, setting out the Government's annual priorities; opening up the law-making process through the introduction of a pre-legislative stage for Bills, conducted by the relevant Oireachtas committee, thus allowing for unprecedented and extensive engagement by the public in the law-making process; and the introduction of a provision whereby the proposer of a Private Members' Bill now has five minutes on First Stage to outline the purpose of the Bill to the Dáil, following which the Member can seek to have the Bill debated during a Friday sitting. The number of Bills introduced by Deputies has grown from 14 published in 2010 to 53 published in 2014. The process of reform must and can go further, specifically in the form of the Government's response to the recommendations contained in the convention's seventh report.

Some of the recommendations in the seventh report would require constitutional change, while others could be implemented by means of changes to Standing Orders. I will deal first with those requiring a referendum. The Government does not consider that there should be a change in Article 17.2 of the Constitution, which requires a money message from the Government before the Dáil passes any vote on legislation for the appropriation of revenue or public moneys. Nor, indeed, is it considered desirable to make a change in the related Standing Order. The convention also recommended including a reference to Oireachtas committees in the Constitution. In the programme for Government, a commitment was given to reduce the number of committees and give key committees constitutional standing. The Government has already moved, through its progress on Dáil reform, to reduce the number of committees and to make their operation more effective. The Government intends to follow through with its commitment in the programme for Government by accepting the convention's recommendation that a reference to Oireachtas committees be included in the Constitution.

The Government also accepts that there is a case for a referendum to enhance the Office of the Ceann Comhairle by giving it constitutional standing. It is true that the Constitution provides, in Article 15.9, that each House of the Oireachtas shall elect from its Members its Chairman and Deputy Chairman. There are also other references to the Ceann Comhairle in the Constitution, including of course the well-known provision with regard to the Ceann Comhairle being returned as a member of Dáil Éireann at the next general election. However, the Government accepts the recommendation that the role and office of the Ceann Comhairle can be further enhanced by giving it constitutional standing. The convention also recommended that the election of the Ceann Comhairle be done by secret ballot in the interests of enhancing the independence of the office. The Government intends to bring a new proposed Standing Order to the House next week and to ask the Members to agree to this reform.

I now turn to the recommendations of the convention that would require a change in Standing Orders. The Government does not propose to establish a forum chaired by the Ceann Comhairle to set the Dáil agenda. As regards the introduction of more free votes, this is really a matter for each political party or grouping. On other Standing Order recommendations, we will, as I mentioned earlier, bring forward a proposal to amend Standing Orders to provide for the election of the Ceann Comhairle by secret ballot. Standing Orders will also be amended to introduce a system whereby the Taoiseach will appear before the Working Group of Committee Chairmen twice a year. Provision will also be made by Standing Orders for the proportionate allocation of committee chairs using the d'Hondt system. As regards resources for committees, the Government welcomes provision by the Oireachtas of increased resources over recent years to support the work of committees.

A number of recommendations will be referred to the Dáil reform sub-committee for further consideration. The sub-committee will look at the recommendations that members of committees should have access to support from a panel of external members and former Deputies and at how the introduction of family-friendly hours for the Dáil and a committee week would work in practice.

I turn now to the eighth report of the convention, on economic, social and cultural rights. Briefly, it recommends that the State progressively realise economic, social and cultural, ESC, rights subject to maximum available resources, that this duty be cognisable by the courts, and that specific additional rights be inserted into the Constitution: housing rights, social security rights, rights to essential health care, rights of people with disabilities, linguistic and cultural rights and rights covered in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Obviously this recommendation raises substantial questions. They include, for example, questions such as the suitability or otherwise of the Constitution as a vehicle for providing for detailed rights in these areas, the possible cost, and the fact that there is already power by legislation to confer rights and determine expenditure via primary and secondary legislation and an elected and accountable Government and Oireachtas and that, unlike the Constitution, such legislation can be varied as needed and as availability of resources allows. Other issues include the absence of provisions for revenue to provide for any ensuing expenditure; concerns about transferring to the judiciary, which is unelected, the power to make decisions affecting the allocation of resources which are more appropriate for an elected Parliament and Government; and the current position of the State as regards debt levels and the need to meet stringent EU rules into the future. In light of these considerations, the Government has decided that this report should be referred to an Oireachtas committee for consideration of the various issues that arise from it.

The ninth report contains the convention's final recommendations and conclusions.

The convention members voted unanimously that there should be a second convention, but the report acknowledges that realistically this is an exercise that could be achieved only once in the lifetime of any Dáil.

The convention also voted on what topics could be considered by a future convention. It is interesting that the top three selected were the environment, Seanad reform and local government reform, as the Government has already taken a number of initiatives in these areas. For example, we introduced the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015, which sets out the national objective of moving to a low-carbon, climate-resilient and environmentally-sustainable economy. In terms of Seanad reform, the Government presented a package of procedural reforms for the Seanad Committee on Procedure and Privileges in February 2014. The Government has also published a Bill to enable implementation of the 1979 constitutional amendment to extend the Seanad franchise to graduates from institutions of higher education in the State that do not currently form part of the Seanad university constituencies. A working group on Seanad reform was also established and reported last year. As regards local government, the House will recall that this Government has implemented the most extensive reform package in the history of the State. This included a reduction in the number of local authorities from 114 to 31, a reduction in the number of councillors from 1,627 to 949, the establishment of 95 municipal districts and the dissolution of 80 town councils. However, the question of establishing another convention and any topics it might consider will obviously be matters for the next Government.

I have addressed the recommendations made by the convention in its seventh, eighth and ninth reports. Before I conclude, however, I wish to acknowledge and commend the work of the convention and its members. Under the chairmanship of Tom Arnold, and with the help of the convention staff and the various experts who supported its work, the members of the convention demonstrated high levels of engagement with the issues, not just on the topics addressed today but throughout the lifespan of the convention. The exercise involved a considerable personal sacrifice on the part of the members, as they were required to give up their entire weekend on ten occasions. I take this opportunity to thank all involved for their dedication and commitment to this valuable innovation in our democracy.

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