Fiach MacConghail (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I realise the Minister is leaving, but I imagine that when Senator Michael Mullins referred to reducing the number of politicians, he was referring to reducing the number of elected politicians. I realise the Minister has a good deal of power and influence, but reducing the number of politicians sounds like a "Ballymagash" headline.

I welcome the Minister to the Seanad. While he is here, we should commend the work of Senator John Crown for the introduction of the Seanad (Electoral Reform) Bill. This week the Seanad will examine all aspects of political reform and the Bill before the House is relatively non-controversial on its own.

At least once every 12 years we need to legislate for the number of Teachtaí Dála, as set out in Article 16.2 of the Constitution. That Article sets out clear parameters for the numbers of Teachtaí Dála who will represent the citizens based on the census. The Minister outlined the role of the commission in that regard. It is ironic that while the Seanad is currently debating political reform for the Dáil as provided for by the Constitution, the future of this House and whether it will be reformed, retained or abolished will not be subject to a similar type of commission or political reform debate in the Dáil.

I am encouraged by the Minister's programme of work to deal with reform of local government and I applaud his Bill on gender quotas in general elections, although I had hoped there would also be gender quotas for local elections. The Government has also established a constitutional convention that will make recommendations, on which I trust the Government will act. The convention introduces the role of deliberative democracy into the wider debate on political reform. I look forward to the recommendations on the voting age and electoral systems coming before us.

However, reducing the Dáil to 158 Teachtaí Dála could be seen as a cosmetic exercise if the Government does not take further reform of the Houses of the Oireachtas into account. It does not solve the question of how to run the Oireachtas efficiently. The committee system is not efficient or productive. I have been in this House as a Taoiseach's nominee for two years and I find the committee system is, almost deliberately, packed with work. The number of committees has been reduced on foot of a Government promise but this has made the Oireachtas less efficient and productive, and the committees face several policy traffic jams. I am concerned that a reduction in the number of Teachtaí Dála will lead to greater inefficiencies if the rest of the processes and workings of the Oireachtas are not reformed with that in mind.

One could argue that fewer Teachtaí Dála, set alongside the slow progress of local government reform, will further stifle their legislative and policy work. I am not opposed to localism or parish pump issues, but we are trying to reconstruct the work of the Houses of the Oireachtas around policy and legislative issues. In the absence of reform, localism will continue to be the main workload for parliamentarians. The Minister brought this Bill before the House without considering simple issues such as working hours and how we can make the Houses more family-friendly or how we can increase productivity by establishing more committees. It is contradictory to reduce the number of Teachtaí Dála to 158 without also establishing a more efficient and productive process of political reform. As a reform on its own, the reduction will continue to move Irish democracy towards greater centralisation and Cabinet-controlled parliamentary democracy.

This might not be the Minister's intention but I was disappointed that I did not hear about his overall vision and how this Bill fits into it. I heard more about the context of political reform from Senator Mullins than I did from the Minister. The reduction in the number of Teachtaí Dála does not warrant any great shakes when it comes to political reform. We need to be reminded of the broader context, some of which was promised in the programme for Government. Cutting costs is not necessarily the panacea for greater accountability. It will be up to the Seanad to argue that case later in this term. On this occasion, I will be supporting the Bill in the hope that further reform of the Oireachtas will create a healthier parliamentary democracy. This might also include Seanad reform.