Seanad debates

Thursday, 26 June 2003

Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Bill 2002: Second Stage.

 

There are issues in this Bill which are unclear to me, although I have spent many years working on various sub-committees in these areas. I am delighted that at last we have a Bill about which we can argue. We have been waiting for it long enough. I cannot remember how many sub-committees and joint committees I have participated in over the years which tried to deal with this matter by considering how things were done in various places. It is still unclear to me, however. I defy the Minister of State to explain in his response to Second Stage the relationship between the commission we are establishing and, for instance, the Joint Committee on House Services. How these organisations are to work within this system is not mentioned at all. The real problem with this legislation, which has not even been referred to, is that although there are two issues with which we deal every day – parliamentary procedures and services for Members – this legislation deals solely with services for Members. The distinction between the two areas is utterly artificial and is not common in other parliaments, but it is being made in this Parliament.

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