Joe O'Toole (Independent)

I want people to consider that the Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices Act was not brought forward by accident or through backroom chat by a number of people here and there. It was brought forward in the hungry 1930s and 1940s when it was considered important to draw people in who could make a contribution to public life and that they should have some element of comfort and safety. We cannot determine how people will vote in the next election, but we can determine the conditions of salary and payments that will allow the profession of politics to be attractive. The way we are going no one will enter public life. This will never be an issue for me because I will never be a Minister. However, I speak as someone who has a passion for the job which we are sending down the sink. We are running in front of a populist press, afraid to take on issues and argue the point. Of course, we should correct what needs to be corrected; some corrections were made in recent days, with which I do not disagree, but that is not the point. We must look at the whole picture. I, therefore, ask the Cathaoirleach to look very seriously at the amendment I propose to the Order of Business that we adjourn in order to discuss the profession of politics and how we can recruit, retain and maintain people within it.