Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach will remember that in 2017 he informed the House he was reorganising the Cabinet committee structures so they would become more active. A pattern has since emerged of Cabinet committees being, at best, marginal to the issues they are supposed to be handling. The facts demonstrate that in areas such as health, housing, Brexit, Northern Ireland and other areas of public concern, the Cabinet sub-committees have made irregularly. The Taoiseach recently justified this by stating he preferred to have the discussions at a full Cabinet meeting. The implication of that stance is that he prefers to have the discussion without the detail of advanced work circulated to Departments, without key officials present and as part of much fuller agendas and limited time.

These discussions are also sometimes held without putting them on the agenda. That at least is what is implied by the failure of his staff to note these discussions when explaining the Cabinet agenda in different contexts. That includes the press briefings on Tuesday afternoons. Turning to the infrastructure committee, which I think met in January, it is clear it is not on top of the national plan at all or has very little relationship with it. That is evident from the massive overspend on the national children’s hospital, for example. That overspend will have an impact on the wider national development plan and the capacity to deliver other projects is undermined.

This recurs repeatedly with different committees which seem very much out of touch with various crises in different Departments. Will the Taoiseach explain why he thinks it is better, overall, not to have detailed advanced staff work done or key officials present when discussing these important issues? What used to happen at Cabinet sub-committees was a more intensive and specific look at issues. It was not just a case of a glance during a plenary session of the Cabinet.

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