Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State and the previous two speakers from Sinn Féin who contributed. It is welcome that there is broad agreement on the objectives of this Bill. Of course, when you are in opposition or on the back bench of Government, you do not have the wherewithal to ensure that everything in the drafting of the Bill is to the standard of one brought forward by the Government. It is welcome that there is no one opposing it. It is welcome that there is cross-party acknowledgement of a need for this Bill. I hope the Government does not use a tactic that can be used at times of not opposing but still not embracing it. I hope the Minister of State will embrace this Bill. I hope there will be time allocated in the relevant committee to tease it out further, to improve and enhance it and take on board some of the concerns the Minister of State and previous speakers have expressed. That is what Committee Stage of a Bill is about, anyhow. It is about improving a Bill.

The Minister of State referred to the briefings that are currently prescribed in law in respect of Oireachtas Members and the management teams within local authorities. Personally I think annually is too infrequent. I note what the Minister of State said, that the Bill provides for more frequent briefings and that annual is the minimum. My experience, unfortunately, is that many local authorities are just doing this annually. The Minister of State said he is aware of some local authorities that are doing it more frequently. I would like to see where they are. Certainly Westmeath used to do it biannually but it slipped out to annually. I do think there is a need for more frequent engagement. We engage with them the whole time as public representatives but there is a need for a more formalised, frequent engagement between Oireachtas Members and the senior management teams of the local authorities. Perhaps that is something we can provide for on Committee Stage.

The Minister of State is right and it would be my last desire that we would make the Ombudsman's job more difficult or heap more work on that office through this Bill. I think it would have the opposite effect. If people were getting their answers in a more timely fashion and were getting a substantive reply, not a copy-and-paste reply, if they knew why a decision was taken in a certain instance, it might alleviate the need to appeal to the Ombudsman. It might have the opposite effect to what the Minister of State thinks in terms of overworking the ombudsman. I think it would reduce it. Ultimately, if these bodies do need greater resources and staff, we need to provide them.

The ultimate objective and core intention of this Bill is to ensure that the citizens who pay their taxes and whom we represent can receive a public service that is efficient, effective and transparent. That is all I am looking for. I think we can all unite on that. That is what they deserve and this Bill goes some way towards achieving it. I thank the Minister of State for coming in and giving his honest opinion. I thank the two Members opposite for supporting the Bill also.

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