John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

A Cheann Comhairle, I congratulate you on your re-election to the position of Ceann Comhairle. You did an excellent job over the last number of years and I have no doubt but that you will continue with vigour to try to reform this House. There is no doubt that, in the election, people asked again for change. They did not just seek change with regard to the minor things in their lives; they want a major change in how politics is done. They want change in how the political system and political parties work, operate and control their members. It would do a great service to this House, were each of the individuals proposed for the position of Taoiseach to bring forward a programme for Government that comprehensively outlined his or her views on how the issues should be dealt with. We are talking about the numbers we may have to elect a Taoiseach. We talked about that earlier on. We also talked about radical change and all of that but real meat could be put on this matter if, under the Ceann Comhairle's instruction, this House were to afford time over the next few weeks to talk about the real agenda for change which the people demand and about what that means for us. I see no reason for us to finish our business today and then adjourn for two weeks. I see no reason why each individual Member of this House should not be included in the discussion around a programme for Government. I see every reason why we should be debating it. It is not good enough that the outcome is presented to us after some discussions, normally held closely between a few and behind closed doors. We should have input into that outcome and into how that outcome is to be fulfilled by the parties that make up the next Government.

The reform of the system for parliamentary questions was given as an example. This is a tiny reform that has been spoken about since I became a Member of this House in 1997. A book I published in 2010, The House Always Wins, sets out all of the wrongs within Departments which the Government will have experienced over the last nine and a half years and which nobody has addressed. If we really want change, it must be spelled out for the Members here. The Ceann Comhairle, who protects the rights of Members, should ensure that when this change is spelled out, it is delivered upon and that each Member has the right to have input into these absolutely necessary changes.

All political parties, their members, and those who are not members of parties have an obligation to talk to one another. No single party should be left out of a discussion on the future of this country. It is the future for us, our children, our families, and our communities. Our communities are being devastated by drugs, by crime and by the lack of political leadership that has left this country down. No Member of this House can be proud of where we stand today. That position in itself should drive us towards changing the political system for the next generation.

See this speech in context