Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

With respect to Cabinet accountability, I will raise a point from my party's perspective. The role of each and every one of us elected to the House is to hold Ministers to account and question them on certain areas. The responsibility is no less for a Government backbencher than it is for any other Member. As chairman of the Fine Gael Party, I know my colleagues and I feel that dividing speaking slots evenly between political groupings of different sizes leads to a disproportionate impact on Government backbenchers. This is manifested in debates on Private Members' Bills, for example, where it is required that a Minister must open and close the debate on behalf of the Government. The time available for Deputies in my party to raise points in such debates is next to none.

As an example, there was a Private Members' debate not that long go regarding community employment supervisors. I had constructive points I wanted to make about their pension entitlements but I could not get speaking time here. I had to seek a meeting with the Ministers, Deputies Paschal Donohoe and Regina Doherty, afterwards to make those points. I feel a bit aggrieved that my constructive points or questions to the Minister could not happen here and go on the record. It is not ideal and my mandate is the same as that of everybody else. The nub of this is the equal splitting of time between political groupings of different sizes. It can perhaps give a disproportionate voice to those in the Opposition benches.

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