Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate on this motion. It was funny to hear the Chief Whip finishing his contribution by encouraging "the next Dáil and the next Government [to] follow the example we have set over the last five years by continuing to introduce reforms that improve the way our Parliament works". I certainly hope the next Government, regardless of its composition, does not follow the example this Government has set. When the Government parties took office, they said they had been the benefactors of a "democratic revolution". Nothing could be further from the truth. There has been no substantial political reform over the past five years. We have seen a box-ticking exercise that has resulted in some cosmetic changes. I have to say that from a political reform perspective, this Government has wasted the substantial goodwill and the trust placed by the electorate in Fine Gael and the Labour Party five years ago.

I would like to remind the Government of some of the promises it made on political reform. It has systematically broken the promise or pledge included in the programme for Government not to guillotine legislation. Up to the end of 2014, it had guillotined 63% of legislation. We know that the guillotining of key legislation, such as the Bills introducing water charges and cutting social welfare payments, deprived all Members of the House - Government backbenchers and Opposition Members - of the opportunity to tease out and debate critical legislative issues that would have a direct effect on the citizens of this country. That is a clear broken promise of this Government. The Minister of State mentioned the reform of Adjournment debates, which are now known as Topical Issue debates. While I acknowledge the time difference, it is still the case that the relevant Minister turns up just 40% of the time. The change from the Adjournment debates to the Topical Issue debates was made to allow the relevant Minister to come in.

Last week I took part in a Topical Issue debate on the extension of the compensation scheme for flood victims in Athlone and the Minister of State at the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Joe McHugh, came in. He is an honourable man but he did not have a clue what I was talking about. I do not blame him because it was not his area of responsibility. He came in with a pre-prepared script and he was not able to answer the questions I asked.

The issue of Friday sittings is a farce. The Minister of State indicated that the Dáil was sitting more as a result of Friday sittings and there probably are more days when we are physically present but how much work is actually being done? On a Friday sitting there are no Leaders' Questions, no Topical Issue debate and no Order of Business. There is a requirement for a minimum number of Oireachtas Members to be present but they are not always present. The legislation which is debated gets ventilation but ends up on a shelf gathering dust. There is an opportunity for back bench and Opposition Deputies to put forward legislation, but the Government never adopts it. Only one back bench Deputy had his legislation enacted in five years out of many hundreds that were submitted. Where is the reform in that case?

We have spoken about cronyism in appointments to State boards and we saw the true will of the Government on this issue most recently when the Tánaiste appointed Mr. Begg without going through the process which Government established. There was the debacle of the McNulty affair when someone was appointed to a State board just so that it could manipulate the Seanad election to get the right person in to a position the Government wanted to abolish a few months earlier. On 31 May 2011, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, said the programme for Government contained the most ambitious and far-reaching agenda for political reform ever put before the House. How inaccurate is that statement today? It rings hollow.

I welcome the amendments to Standing Orders being put before the House, albeit belatedly, and our party will support them. I do not hope the next Government follows on the path of the current Government in the area of political reform, because if it does so, it will not do the citizens a service.

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