Dáil debates

Tuesday, 5 November 2013

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed)

Cabinet Committee Meetings

4:45 pm

Photo of Joe HigginsJoe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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1. To ask the Taoiseach the Cabinet sub-committees that have met since the adjournment of Dáil Éireann in July; and the number of times each has met. [39141/13]

Photo of Enda KennyEnda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I have chaired 14 Cabinet committee meetings since the Dáil summer recess. The Cabinet committees on Health and Mortgage Arrears and Credit Availability have met three times. The Cabinet committees on Social Policy and Economic Recovery & Jobs have met twice and the Cabinet Committees on Irish and the Gaeltacht, Economic Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and European Affairs once. A sub-committee of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Recovery & Jobs, dealing specifically with Pathways to Work, has also met once since the summer recess. The Economic Management Council, EMC, which has the status of a Cabinet committee, has met 11 times since the summer recess.

Photo of Micheál MartinMicheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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How many questions is the Taoiseach taking together?

Photo of Seán BarrettSeán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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I call Deputy Higgins.

Photo of Enda KennyEnda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Eleven.

Photo of Micheál MartinMicheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Is the Taoiseach taking Questions Nos. 1 to 11?

Photo of Joe HigginsJoe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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Which committee met 11 times?

Photo of Enda KennyEnda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I am sorry. No. I am taking Question No. 1. This is a problem for everyone. I am responding to Question No. 1 because people say one should break up the questions. I note that Questions Nos. 2 to 12 are all related to Question No. 1 because they are about individual Cabinet sub-committees. Deputies may take it whatever way they want.

Photo of Micheál MartinMicheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Is the Taoiseach answering just Question No. 1?

Photo of Enda KennyEnda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I am answering just Question No. 1.

Photo of Micheál MartinMicheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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That is fine.

Photo of Seán BarrettSeán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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I call Deputy Higgins.

Photo of Joe HigginsJoe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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What was the last committee to which the Taoiseach referred met 11 times?

Photo of Enda KennyEnda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Gabh mo leithscéal.

Photo of Seán BarrettSeán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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How many times did the Economic Management Council meet?

Photo of Enda KennyEnda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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It met 11 times since the summer recess.

Photo of Gerry AdamsGerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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How often did the Cabinet Committee on Health meet?

Photo of Enda KennyEnda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Cabinet Committee on Health and the Cabinet Committee on Mortgage Arrears and Credit Availability met three times.

Photo of Richard Boyd BarrettRichard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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How many times did the Cabinet Committee on Climate Change and the Green Economy meet?

Photo of Seán BarrettSeán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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I am sorry but I have called Deputy Higgins. It is his question.

Photo of Enda KennyEnda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I saw Deputy Boyd Barrett's posters in Dún Laoghaire the other day when I walked the pier.

Photo of Richard Boyd BarrettRichard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Is the Taoiseach coming to the meeting?

Photo of Enda KennyEnda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I might.

Photo of Richard Boyd BarrettRichard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The Taoiseach might learn something.

Photo of Enda KennyEnda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I might tell Deputy Boyd Barrett something.

Photo of Seán BarrettSeán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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I call Deputy Higgins.

Photo of Joe HigginsJoe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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The final sentence in the reply speaks volumes. The Economic Management Council, which is composed of the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste, the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform met 11 times, which is a multiple of many of the other committees. Is it the case that in this Government, Cabinet committees are surplus to requirement because the EMC has assumed such dictatorial powers? It appears that it is frog-marching the Government in whatever direction it wishes. Is that not obvious from what happened in 2011 when the president of the European Central Bank, Mr. Trichet, screamed at the Taoiseach and dictated that he would not burn bondholders in Anglo Irish Bank or that an economic bomb would go off under him in Dublin? The Taoiseach capitulated in an hour without reference to the Cabinet, which apparently had agreed that such burning of bondholders would take place. What is the purpose of the committees when any decisions or reports they make to the Cabinet can be apparently overturned by a very short meeting, perhaps even in the corridor, of the Economic Management Council? Where does that leave any role for the democratic input of elected representatives in this country?

Photo of Enda KennyEnda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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When I was elected as Taoiseach I examined the issue and I found that Cabinet sub-committees used to meet on an irregular basis perhaps once a quarter. Given the state of affairs in a number of areas I felt it was appropriate that we should devote one day in the month exclusively to Cabinet sub-committees. I do that on a Monday from 8.30 a.m. right through until 6 p.m. I find it is a very effective way to focus on a number of issues in regard to the remit of any of the Cabinet sub-committees. I find they are more valued now than they ever have been because people are subject to timelines and therefore focused on particular issues to move them along and not let them drift, as might happen if they meet only on an irregular basis.

The answer to Deputy Higgins’s question is that Cabinet sub-committees are more important than ever from my point of view and we devote a particular focus to issues relevant to each of them on one Monday every month. I could not do it effectively, given the proceedings of the Dáil, on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. I find the sub-committees very effective in terms of being able to move issues along.

The EMC is not a dictatorship.

It is a facility whereby the Tánaiste, the Minister for Finance, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and I consider emerging issues that need to be dealt with. If we make a recommendation, we bring it to the Cabinet to make a full formal decision, if appropriate.