Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

It is a case of “Start as you mean to go on”. We hope this is not going to be the way we continue with the business. The last time I looked, the Constitution provided that the Dáil decides on the business of this Parliament. The Government is telling us what the business is today without consultation. We have a Business Committee that has become a facade. This is all dictated by the Government. When he spoke yesterday, the Taoiseach talked about reaching across the floor in a more collaborative approach. When we had a minority Government, a lot was achieved because there was not this “We own the agenda” kind of approach. A lot of things were achieved by that. This is not the way to start with a new Taoiseach and a new regime. This is the business of the Dáil, not the business of the Government exclusively. That has to stop. We are right to say this. We had no input into this and we should not be excluded in this way. I want the Business Committee to look very seriously at whether there is a point to the Business Committee if we are going to be just dictated to and told: “This is how things are going to be. We have the numbers so just leave it to us. We know best.” It is a very bad way to treat the Parliament and it is dictated by the Government.

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