Maurice Hayes (Independent)

I also welcome the Bill. I endorse many of the remarks of Senators McDowell and Dardis. I would have preferred it if the Houses had been granted their own Vote and did not have to go through the filter of the Department of Finance. Nevertheless, it is an enormous improvement. It is important that the Houses take a grip on their own administration.

I hope the Secretary General, when appointed, will take a good, hard look at the efficiency of the operation. I speak as one who does not put an enormous burden on the administration of the Houses. I am grateful that I do not need to do so. As a student of administration and management, one can see where savings could be made and where efficiencies could be arrived at and better focused on other areas.

I would like to see the Oireachtas Library being developed and research facilities being provided. Doing the latter through the Library would be better than giving each Member a research assistant, regardless of whether they want one. Giving each Member a research assistant means that everyone is a generalist. The way to build up expertise and knowledge is to have it in the Oireachtas Library rather than elsewhere.

I was struck by the membership of the commission. I also think it should include a staff member. I am surprised that the Secretary General should be both a member of the commission and its chief officer. I would also encourage some means of consultation or otherwise with the other users, particularly journalists. Democracy exists through the communication they make and the House would be much reduced in power and influence were it not for the efforts of the journalists who work here. It is important that consideration is given to their position.

Leinster Lawn should be restored. I would go further than most, in that I think Members of both Houses should give an example to the public by using public transport. One of our great problems is the clogging up of the city centre with cars.

I am struck by the number of visitors who come into the Houses and how difficult it is to buy a book about Leinster House or to get a souvenir. This could be a source of revenue.

My own preference would be for secretaries to be pooled, but with a degree of tailoring to meet the needs of individual Senators. It is unreasonable to ask them to work the unsocial hours of these Houses and then regard them as run of the mill civil servants in terms of pay and conditions. There needs to be flexibility in that regard. One of the benefits of the pooling system, particularly if it was allied to some sort of assignment within that to particularly busy Senators, is that it would allow the development of a career structure and a degree of seniority would work its way through.

Much depends on the energy the commission, in particular the Secretary General, attaches to this matter. I look forward to the first strategic plan which will be a key document. I hope it will lay out a bold approach to the development of the services of the Houses and the servicing of the Members. I wish the Bill well.