Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak about the Sub-Committee on Dáil Reform, including its interim report. On 10 March 2016, when the House reconvened following the election, for the first time in its history, the Members had the opportunity to elect a Ceann Comhairle by secret ballot. This change in Standing Orders was introduced by me before the general election in order that people would be able to implement it and not have to talk about it at the end of the Thirty-second Dáil. This change was introduced along with changes to allow the selection of Chairs of Oireachtas committees using the D'Hondt system and a requirement that the Taoiseach appear before the Working Group of Committee Chairmen twice a year. Each of these changes was designed to enhance the role of Parliament.

The election of the Ceann Comhairle, which was the first by secret ballot in the history of the State, means that his office is now more independent and, as holder of the office, the Ceann Comhairle has a direct link to his Deputy colleagues as never before. On 10 March 2016, the House also voted to establish a new Dáil sub-committee chaired by the newly elected Ceann Comhairle and representative of the entire membership of the Dáil. The sub-committee sought submissions and received 25 different sets of proposals from parties, individual Deputies and others, including a comprehensive reform document from my party. The sub-committee has undertaken to evaluate the way the Dáil works, review the submissions it has received and report back to the Dáil with a set of reforms that will allow the Dáil to work more effectively.

The sub-committee's interim report and the statements in the House today are only the first steps in a reform process which will build on the reforms of the past five years and which will, over the next number of weeks, recommend a number of changes to Standing Orders. I understand that the sub-committee's interim report touches on a number of areas. These include allowing Deputies to abstain formally from a vote, establishing a business committee representative of all groups and parties in Parliament to set Dáil agendas on the basis of consensus, splitting Oireachtas committee and plenary time, allowing more than one Technical Group in order that everybody has an opportunity, reducing the threshold to form such a group to five Deputies instead of seven, providing a fixed time for the taking of votes, which should be of some assistance in terms of more family-friendly hours, and reinstating the Ceann Comhairle's powers introduced in the last Dáil to question the adequacy of ministerial replies to questions.

I welcome this interim report, which is all it is. I look forward to hearing all the views of the sub-committee members and the other Members of the House. In its interim report, the sub-committee outlined that it will meet continually over the next number of weeks to discuss scheduling Dáil business, parliamentary questions, the way Oireachtas committees work, how the Oireachtas deals with financial scrutiny and the legislative process. I understand that the sub-committee hopes to agree a final report by the end of this month.

Parliamentary reform is an ongoing process. The previous Government introduced three packages of Oireachtas reform which introduced Topical Issues, pre-legislative stage scrutiny for legislation, which has been a very valuable contribution, additional Leaders' Questions, and a process to allow Deputies to have their Bills debated on Second Stage, which did not apply previously. At the outset of this Dáil, the sub-committee is seeking to review how this House works, build on those recent reforms, which have been successful, and introduce new reforms where they are required.

The Ceann Comhairle presides over a Dáil that is unprecedented in its range of representation and probable number of partisan individuals. Business can never be conducted the way it was conducted previously because of those changes. There must be a difference between the constitutional responsibility of the Executive - the Cabinet of the day - and the effective working of Parliament. This situation can bring about huge change in the culture and attitude of Government towards parliamentary work, a change that is required from the public service in servicing the House and Members and in respect of membership of the Opposition. This is because the changes being proposed in terms of committees will require a much greater level of engagement and responsibility and, as a consequence, a much greater level of accountability from all the Members in discussing financial Votes, matters pertaining to the budget and so on. In effect, it will not be just the traditional "look for more money for every sector" attitude when the overall Vote allocations are determined for each Department. The committees relevant to them will have to discuss the amounts being proposed for the different sectors and Members will have the opportunity to make their recommendations.

Given that they will have a limited amount of finance available for any particular Vote, that will bring about a change in the attitude to and the requirement for contributions from Members.

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for taking charge of this sub-committee and I thank the 17 Deputies who are members or substitute members of the committee for the work they have already put into it. I hope it will be possible to bring about agreed consensus and recommendations that do make the working of the House more effective and transparent and that it engages every Member. I will put in this proviso: if a recommendation is implemented in the House and is found not to work after a period of months, it could be adjusted to make it work.

Everybody comes in here with the same level of mandate after election by secret ballot and is entitled to an opportunity to have his or her say. This Thirty-second Dáil, because of the decision of the people, can bring about a sense of liberty and freedom and a freeing up of opportunities for elected Members to have their say and participate in a more whole and engaging way in our democratic system than the traditional workings of this House have allowed over the years.

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