Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will not speak for long because I had an opportunity to speak on this issue recently. I also spoke on Dáil reform on a number of occasions during the previous Dáil when I had an opportunity to write a number of pamphlets and papers on the issue. After sitting on the banking inquiry, I swore I would never sit on another Oireachtas committee. I also felt there should be some kind of dispensation for members of inquiry in respect of committee membership. It was a privilege, however, to be asked to sit on the Sub-Committee on Dáil Reform and I was pleased to do so.

I should mention the role of the Ceann Comhairle and his officials. The work of the sub-committee was done professionally and efficiently to an ambitious timeframe.

As a result, we are now in a position of being able to enact these reforms. In no small part, this is due to their dedication and effort in driving this through.

It also fell to the members of the sub-committee to dedicate themselves to putting in this work in this time period. The sub-committee had an interesting composition and I enjoyed working on it. It was interesting not necessarily in the context of their parties or their political viewpoints, but in the context of their experience. We had three former Ministers in Deputies Brendan Howlin, Éamon Ó Cuív and Eamon Ryan, who could present a humourous point of view some of us did not have. We had the Sinn Féin Whip, the new Fine Gael Chief Whip and a new Member of the Dáil, Deputy Louise O'Reilly, to give their perspective. We had former Chairs of committees, including Deputy Stanton, a former MEP, Deputy Paul Murphy, representatives from a new party, Deputy Catherine Murphy, Independent Members like Deputy Thomas Pringle and members from other parties, such as the AAA-PBP. We had a broad spectrum of people with different perspectives, bringing their own experience of how the Dáil does or does not work. I came with the perspective of a government backbencher.

During the previous Dáil, as a backbencher Deputy, I had the opportunity to do some writing and a few years ago, I produced a pamphlet on 30 changes that could be made to fundamentally and radically transform the Dáil without changing the Constitution or a law. On the back of that, I was invited to speak at the MacGill summer school. Rather than give a boring speech, as I sometimes do, I decided to write a short story to try to point out some of the flaws here in a humorous way. The title of that story may be reflective of my perspective in my approach to the reform committee. The title "Show up and shut up – the button pusher, a cautionary tale of a backbench TD". That was my experience as a government backbencher in the last Dáil - not being able to play a full meaningful role as an elected representative and parliamentarian in the work of the Dáil in holding the Government of the day to account. Even though I was a member of a government party, I felt I still had that dual role to fulfil.

What pleases me so much about this draft report we are now debating is that it represents fundamental reform. It is probably the largest and most wide-ranging suite of reforms this House has introduced in decades. There is real vision in it and that is why I am proud we were able to do the work and of the report we have produced as a result. This fundamental reform began with the election of the Ceann Comhairle by secret ballot. As I have said before, people did not quite understand what that would mean. In essence, it was the first step in a flow or transfer of power from the Executive to the Parliament. Since then, the Ceann Comhairle has been able to assume more powers, this sub-committee being part of that. As a result, this sub- committee, its work and this Dáil now stand separate from government, with a greater ability and responsibility to work in the interest of the country, with the Government when it can and against it when it must. I believe that is important.

Some of the questions raised yesterday by the press when we launched this report related to the issue of what this reform will cost. This reform will cost money and that is only right, although not a huge amount. Sometimes we must spend money to save money. I was often made aware of that when I sat on the Committee of Public Accounts. People complained about the price of an audit but that audit was revealing the waste of millions of taxpayers' money. The money spent on that audit was worthwhile and well spent. When we look at the legacy of the financial crisis and the work done by the banking inquiry committee, we understand that is what this is about. That is why the reform committee is so important. It is not just about making this a better place for all of us to work in, it is about making our Parliament more responsive and accountable to the people. It is about giving us the resources and the space to be better legislators and it is about giving us the incentive and the tools to hold the Government of the day to account, to scrutinise legislation and spending, to make changes and to have the House agree them. The Government will be accountable to Dáil Éireann and fulfil that essential element of the Constitution.

Let me pick out just one measure - the budget oversight office and committee - which fulfils this requirement 1,000 times, through the work the Dáil will now be empowered to do, which it never had the resources to do in the lead up to the financial crisis. While the Government was not paying significant attention to what was happening in society and in our economy and was not capable of doing so, the Dáil was not able to do so at all. Now I hope we will come to a new arrangement. Hopefully, we will learn lessons from then and not repeat past mistakes. That begins with this report and changing how we do business here.

Another speaker said that "done" is better than "perfect". If we tried to produce the perfect report, we would be here forever and would never satisfy everyone. When we presented the draft report to the Fine Gael parliamentary party, some of my colleagues were unhappy with certain elements of it. That is natural. However, there is positivity in regard to the broad sweep of changes. The sub-committee has also included a standing reform mechanism. Therefore, if something is tried and fails, that is okay and we will go back to the drawing board, reassess the situation and try to improve it. This also means that any Member who seeks reform can make a proposal to the sub-committee or Ceann Comhairle. We will consider that and if it is a good idea, we will bring it before the Dáil for debate and a vote.

This is a key legacy from the reform debate process. We are not standing still. Reform is a constant and is now enshrined in the sub-committee. It is a sub-committee of the Dáil, not of any one party, of Government or of a particular interest. It is a sub-committee of all of us and is representative of the people, which is why it is so important. I congratulate everyone involved in the sub-committee. I enjoyed working with them and commend the Ceann Comhairle on how great he was at leading us through the process over the past six to eight weeks.

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