Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Kehoe. This debate will afford him an opportunity to hear the collective wisdom of the House on both the motion and the amendment.

There is a historical context to all this talk about reform. The worldwide economic crash in 2007 and 2008 coupled with the erosion of trust in State institutions and the abuse scandals in the church shook the Irish people's faith in institutions in general. There was a sea change in attitude about the political establishment from that time and I am the first to concede that the Fianna Fáil Administration, under former Deputy Brian Cowen, from 2008 to 2011 did not focus at all on political reform. The reason is that it was in fire brigade mode. It spent the entire period trying to save the country. One can argue about what happened before that, but the reality is that the beginnings of what we hope is the end of this economic nightmare came from the initiatives taken by that Fianna Fáil Government in 2008 and later which, of course, cost us electorally. While this Government boasts about its reform record, all political parties realised that there had to be change. The Government is holding the ball so, of course, it will initiate its reform proposals, and I broadly welcome them.

However, when one looks at the body of reform, ultimately power still resides in the Executive. That is the case even with the reform proposals put forward within this House. Incidentally, I do not agree with everything in the Fianna Fáil reform paper either, but it is in keeping with the party leader's view, which, although he might not like to be reminded of it-----