Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Taoiseach to the House. It is good to have the opportunity to make a few brief points. Over the years, it has been the Taoiseach of the day who has prevented this House from performing to its potential. There is no question but that most of the blame in this regard lies with Fianna Fáil, having been in government for most of that time. It is a unique occasion for the Taoiseach to be here and it is unprecedented in my time for a Taoiseach to give two hours to a debate on this issue here. As someone who often subjected the Taoiseach to intemperate criticism throughout the debate on the referendum, I wholeheartedly apologise for any offence that may have been taken, although I am sure none was.

I do not want to repeat the issues mentioned by many people, apart from supporting a broader reform agenda. I support the Leader's suggestion in terms of taking a broader look at what is possible and what should be done. I have a few suggestions with regard to changes that can be made immediately. It would be a pioneering change to relax the Whip in this House. While this would pose a challenge to all parties, it would be a good change to make.

This House should also be involved in greater scrutiny of EU legislation, particularly in view of the opportunity afforded to parliaments now as a result of the Lisbon treaty to take a view on legislation at the embryonic stage. Ireland has only taken that opportunity once out of some 180 pieces of legislation and some 480 submissions made by other EU parliaments. This House could be and ought to be involved in that. There is no reason it cannot. I urge the Taoiseach to be the first Taoiseach to allow this House perform to its potential. He has a great Leader of the House and I have no doubt that in addition to the measures he has already introduced to increase the relevance and operating efficiency of this House, he should be allowed to do this. That would serve the country well. There are 67 pages of proposed legislation on the EU Commission's legislative programme. The set piece is that the civil servants here agree with the civil servants there and then all of a sudden we have a directive to transpose, which we can do little about in terms of what it will do in legislation. Let the Seanad take on this scrutiny.

The scrutiny of all public appointments is something the Seanad could embrace and this should be done. In regard to the broader reform agenda, we in Ireland have a great sense of community, but we have no sense of State. We have no sense of State because the people cannot identify with the national policy platform forum because their representatives in the Dáil or Seanad are strangled by the Whip system, where Parliament is subservient to the Taoiseach and Executive of the day. This needs to change. Today is not the day for that, but that should be debated.

To conclude, the Taoiseach has a great opportunity. Everybody in this House would support his endeavours to allow reform happen. No previous Taoiseach has been prepared to make reforms.