Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As another new Deputy, with Deputy Jdames Lawless, and as someone who spent many years in local government, I have certainly found that the best way of achieving progress was through consensus and collaboration. I viewed the proceedings in the Dáil from afar and was always struck by their adversarial nature, while understanding the need for Government and a strong and constructive opposition. One of the most important aspects of the Dáil is the fact that it is the people's assembly and no matter what background any one of the 158 Deputies comes from, every one of us has a mandate that needs to be understood and respected. In fact, on my first day in the Chamber, which was 10 March, I was delighted when my party leader, Deputy Micheál Martin, placed such strong emphasis on Dáil reform. It was key for my party in terms of looking at the possibility of supporting a minority Government. Perhaps the Dáil reform that we see before us now was a positive and unintended consequence of the situation that we all found ourselves in after the people voted on 26 February, following which, as the House will be aware, there was no clear result.

I commend the report. At the end of the day, all of us want to have a strong Legislature, independent of the Government of the day, that can impact on policy and oversee Government action. That is vital to an effective Parliament. We want to address the issues people all over Ireland are facing.

I thank all the Deputies from all parties and none who were involved in drafting the report. It is important we agree to review it on a timely basis and that we continue to reform. True reform is ongoing; it should never be once-off. We need to constantly tweak things and see what we can do to improve the business here.

The idea of changing and ensuring separate committee time from plenary time is important. Unfortunately, we saw recently during a particular debate that many observers took to social media straightaway to bemoan the fact there were only ten Deputies in the Chamber. Afterwards it was realised that 62 Deputies contributed to that debate. It behoved Deputies to point out that, in fact, there were important committees meeting at the time.

The fact that the times will change will be very helpful to those of us who want to be active on committees and during plenary sessions.

I particularly welcome the measures to empower Dáil Deputies with a strong committee system. With 23 committees, there will be much work for all of us to do in ensuring it will be a strong, robust system. The legal resources and independent economic analysis that will be before us will be particularly welcome and help us all to do our work better. The implementation of reforms such as a new budget committee and pre-legislative scrutiny is especially welcome. The work that has been done will help us on an ongoing basis. These changes are against the backdrop of a formal confidence and supply arrangement in supporting a minority Government. My party was very pleased to have been involved in it and is looking forward to helping to implement the suggestions made in the draft report, after it is accepted on Tuesday.

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