Niall Ó Brolcháin (Green Party)

The idea that under our clientilist system senior politicians should be obliged to deal with anything other than the current financial and economic crisis is both atrocious and wrong.

Major political reform is required. This must come from across the various parties and outside the political system. Matters will be very difficult for the next Government, but I would genuinely hate to see a situation where people would be accused of not doing what they said they would do when in opposition and others stating the position was much better when they were in office. That is an absolute waste of time.

There is a need for a list system to be established. People such as the Minister of State, Deputy Mansergh, must be elected to serve. Individuals who are capable of making serious intellectual contributions must be elected to Parliament. We cannot rely on those who operate at county council level in a national context. That is not the way forward. If matters continue as they are, we will not extricate ourselves from our current difficulties. There is a need for people from all walks of life who possess great imagination to be elected to serve.

Systemic reform should come about as a result of the EU-IMF Programme for Ireland. There are many items in the programme which are absolutely appalling. However, we are obliged to work through them. My key message is that the system requires radical reform.