Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach will recall that in the Government of which both he and I were members there were ten Cabinet sub-committees which were very effective at pursuing the reform agenda in each area of operation, with direct accountability to the Taoiseach, which was good. If there was any criticism of them, it was probably that there were too many people attending each of them, but that was a general complaint. The problem with reducing the number and broadening the scope of each of the reduced committees is that we will have an extraordinarily large number attending. That waters down their effectiveness.

I would like the Taoiseach to answer on two specific issues, one of which is climate action. Should there be a stand-alone committee dealing with the issue if we are to give it the sense of priority to which the House referred during Leaders' Questions? Justice reform was a major part of the reform agenda and most people in the country would still regard it as critical. Where in the six committees the Taoiseach has set out is it housed and how often does the reform committee meet?

On the questions put by the two previous questioners, all of the meetings I have attended on the island of Ireland and in Britain have had far too many generalisms about what we are facing. Bluntly, I would like to have a real debate about the options we have to face because we are galloping towards the edge of a cliff and talking in generalisms and making assertions that something will not happen. It will be too late if we actually reach the edge of the cliff and there is no solution.

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