James Bannon (Fine Gael)

Such co-operation on behalf of the Fianna Fáil and Progressive Democrats Government is rare and therefore open to suspicion. With such unprecedented backing, there is nothing to stop the committee from being up and running before Christmas if we pass this motion, which enjoys unanimous support.

The Labour Party document on Dáil reform, Putting our House in Order 2003, which is being followed up in the motion this evening, referred to the establishment of a committee of investigations, oversight and petitions in the section dealing with parliamentary inquiries. Once again, I thank Senator Tuffy. There was also reference to "citizens' petitions" in A Dáil for the New Millennium, the Fianna Fáil and Progressive Democrats proposals for parliamentary reform published in December 2000. However, like many other Government proposals, it has died a death and has not been acted on or followed up.

The press appears to have been strangely silent on this issue, and I could find no media discussion of what I believe to be a very interesting concept with far-reaching implications for individuals and community groups and organisations and surely worthy of being set out for public consumption.

The right to petition reaches back to Magna Carta in 1215. Historically, a petition was a written request stating a grievance and requesting relief from a ruling authority. Since each petition commanded legislative consideration, citizens in large part controlled legislative agendas. The right to petition a government is a freedom firmly upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States, proving that it is considered an inalienable right by the US Government.

Today, the right of citizens to petition Parliament is also part of the political structure of several other countries, including the UK, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and Germany. Such a petition is typically a request for action with regard to legislation, repealing legislation or for a particular purpose. They give a voice to members of the public to express concerns and opinions to parliament. Some, but not all, Parliaments that accept public petitions have petitions committees such as that proposed this evening to process petitions received.

Currently under review in the UK, the system of public petitions is referred to by the select committee on modernisation of the House of Commons as a "significant avenue for communication between the public and Parliament". The committee sorted and classified the petitions as well as deciding if they were in order under the rules of the house. In Australia, each House, the Senate and the House of Representatives, has its own rules with regard to the acceptance of petitions. Members present valid petitions on behalf of petitioners on the floor of the relevant House, with such a presentation not meaning that the member necessarily agrees with the petition. The relevant Minister may then reply to the petition in the House or respond directly to a petition, with all petitions printed in the official record of debates.

The function of a petitions committee is typically to assess the validity of a petition and decide how it should be dealt with. Such committees have been established in several countries, including Scotland, Israel and Germany. In Scotland, petitions are submitted to the public petitions committee for consideration. It may then be forwarded by the committee to another body, usually another committee. The Scottish Parliament also has a highly innovative e-petitions system to enable petitions to attract support on the Parliament's website.

In Germany, the petitions committee has a staff of around 80 to cope with the heavy workload involved with the number of petitions it receives, on average around 20,000 a year.