Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am not a member of the Business Committee but my understanding was that there was an agreement, in principle, in terms of the number of Members of the Oireachtas on the committee, which will be 20. I understand that the Government is to bring forward a motion that is consistent with that next week in order to facilitate establishment. I am not aware of any objection. I made a point of telephoning a number of people to ensure that everyone was okay with what we are proposing before the meeting of the Business Committee. Many of us would have preferred a smaller group but I was very anxious that nobody would be excluded and that we would not have a d'Hondt system that would choose between the smaller groups for representation because people have very strong views on this issue. Now every group that wants to participate will have an opportunity to do so. There must be 20 members if we are to include the Seanad as part of the process as well. Hopefully, people are not going to start blocking the establishment of the committee before the commission's report is even finalised. That would be a very bad start to the process. My understanding is that agreement, in principle, was reached today and that we will bring forward a motion to that effect next week. If there is a different understanding, it can be dealt with by the Business Committee. It is not a big deal.

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