Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. Huge improvements have taken place and huge volumes of responsibility have been taken on, and discharged, in an exemplary manner. I thank and congratulate the Minister and her officials on that work.

I have long had an interest in oral hearings. It is important that we get them up to speed as quickly as possible and I know that the Minister is attending to that at the moment. The important feature of oral hearings is that they give constituents an opportunity of having their say face to face. Most often, information is revealed that was either overlooked previously or was in the system but was not in the right place at the right time. An oral hearing gives people their full constitutional rights in an upfront face-to-face situation.

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