Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

I will make the point in that debate that if one wants to have questions answered in the Dáil and if one wants direct parliamentary accountability, one cannot superimpose bodies between the Minister and the agency in question and say it will have no effect. I accept the point that has been made in this House that if this Bill has the potential to reduce accountability by the multitude of questions which float onto my desk about delays in the Land Registry, either that or something else must be put in its place. There must be either a hotline or some kind of tailored service to assure the public that files are not just ignored or undue delay does not take place.

I am also optimistic that the reforms we are discussing will sweep away most of the egregious delays that existed in the past. I take the point made by Senator Brian Hayes that at least now when a delay occurs, somebody is bound to respond in a public way to explain the reason for the delay where it becomes a point of controversy. I must put on my thinking hat as to how some measure of equal accountability is put in place. I would emphasise that if one wants a Minister in charge of any area of the State's activity to be accountable to Parliament and liable to answer parliamentary questions and attend Adjournment debates, one cannot at the same time say that he or she should be divested of responsibility and all of his or her functions given to independent aggregations of the great and the good who are entirely independent of him or her and over whom he or she has no control. One cannot have one without the other.