Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have already set out clearly in the past two years my view on reform. Having come here from Brussels where I worked, there is a better way of doing business. Part of what I learned there in the brief time I was there is that while one does not get 100% of what one seeks, one gets 80% or 90% through the system in place there, where everyone sits around the table to work out the way forward. This was clearly demonstrated in these Houses in the first and second weeks of January when the Joint Committee on Health listened to different interest groups putting forward their views for or against the need for legislation to deal with the judgment in the "X" case. We had three days of open debate, without political partisanship. This was a good demonstration of what could be done in an open democracy.

The Minister spoke about the proposals for reform made during the years. I am trying to bring about reform. I introduced two Private Members' Bills and understood a Department was on side on one of them, but because it had not come from it, it had to be rejected.