Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senators for their contributions. This legislation, although important, is relatively limited in scope. As Members have acknowledged, many of the issues that are worthy of public debate and elaboration, such as those on which Senator Bradford has touched and others have mentioned, while related to the subject matter of this Bill, are not contained or referenced in it. The Bill, as Members will be aware, deals with a relatively limited, although not unimportant, requirement that the commission should continue with its work and, most importantly, should continue to have funding in order that it would be able to continue with its work, not least in the payment of the salaries and, indeed, expenses of Members of the Houses, but also in the important support work that is done by senior staff and those across the system, such as the library and research service, to which Senator Barrett referred and which, I agree, is an excellent service.

If I can say this, drawing on my own experience as a Deputy before I became a Minister of State and while I was Chairman of a committee and, indeed, when I was in this House, it may be that in some instances the work and materials provided by the library and research service are under used by Members and that there is a great deal of information, background research and support available that may not always be used to its fullest. Senator MacSharry made the point that Parliament, the way it has evolved in our system, to use his term, was as a "tool" of Government. I suppose that is putting it at its most extreme but Members would be aware of what Senator MacSharry is touching on, that the Government has a uniquely important role in our system and often the Parliament or the Members of the Parliament either chooses not to or, for some reason, are not in a position or able to assert itself or themselves, be they Members of this House or of the other House. On that score, the availability of research tools - the staff of the library and research service have a high level of expertise - is something that the Members should support as much as ever they can. One should be aware that those kinds of supports are there because the more they are used, the more they must be supported, funded and replenished. If they are not used, an argument might arise - I hope it never would - as to the priority that should be given to those vitally important services in our system.

I will not refer to all the comments made by all the Senators but I note that Senator Cullinane was unhappy about the length of time being assigned to this Bill. That is a matter for the House. It is not a matter for me to comment on but the issues Senator Cullinane was anxious to talk about are not issues that are specifically referenced in this Bill. We can discuss the contents of the Bill relatively efficiently and quickly, as colleagues have done, but that is not to say Senators do not have the entitlement, as do Members in the House, to raise other matters as they see fit in the context of a Second Stage debate. I know Senator Cullinane did not raise any objection to the contents of the Bill and I do not believe anybody else has done that in the course of the debate.

In respect of Senator Bradford's points, I do not want to break my own strictures by engaging in the very area of debate that I pointed out is not directly germane to the Bill but I will make one or two observations regarding reform generally because it is important that we talk about and deal with reform. I agree with Senator Bradford's point that reform cannot be reduced to the question of whether the Seanad is abolished, leaving aside one's view as to the merits or otherwise of a proposal to abolish the Seanad. It is not the case that this Government's agenda for reform can be reduced to that. It could not be reduced to such a proposition, regardless of what one believes about that on one side or the other. It is certainly not a one line agenda for reform. There are quite a few areas of reform being pursued by this Government, some arising directly from the programme for Government and others that have arisen since, for example, in regard to the electoral system. I heard one of Senator Byrne's colleagues in the other House complaining recently that electoral reform was not one of the issues included in the constitutional convention. That is not true. Electoral reform is one of the issues included in the constitutional convention. It is important that there is a debate about our electoral system, and it is provided for in the constitutional convention.

The question of the Oireachtas and the power and ability of committees to take on issues of public importance and concern is being addressed also. There is legislation to be brought before the Houses soon in 2013, and it may even be before the finance, public expenditure and reform committee at present, which is to give powers to committees to hold inquiries into matters of public importance and interest. That legislation is being progressed.

On the question generally of legislation and the power and scope for influence of Members of this House and the other House, the innovation that has been introduced allowing for pre-legislative scrutiny is very important, and Members on all sides of the House would agree with that. In terms of what I observed and participated in regarding the credit union legislation, that was dealt with in a pre-legislative forum in the finance committee before it progressed. The whistleblowers legislation, another area of serious reform being brought forward by the Government, was also dealt with in a pre-legislative context before the finance, public expenditure and reform committee.

None of these individual innovations of itself may be revolutionary but when they are combined together they evince an intention on the part of this Government genuinely to reform the way we do our public business on the behalf of the people who elect us. There are other areas such as the question of lobbying, the question of freedom of information and so on that are being brought forward also.

On those points I want to thank the Senators for their support for this legislation. I gather from what colleagues have said that the support for the contents of this legislation is unanimous. I look forward to its passage.