Paul Bradford (Renua Ireland) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State and support the legislation. As Senator MacSharry said, I was previously a member of the second commission, I think. I enjoyed my membership and got a very good insight into the workings of all those associated with it. It is commendable that we have this three-year budget model. It allows for review and overview. It could be reflected upon by all Departments. It gives us a greater long-term view of expenditure coming down the line, of future plans and developments and how to fund same.

The increase being sought today is quite modest yet it has hit the media and the news in a typically negative fashion in respect of money being set aside, not just for Members of the Oireachtas but for members of staff who, as a result of the electorate's decision in Dáil and Seanad elections, will lose their seats or their jobs. The fact that we are setting aside a sum of money to provide for same should not be an extraordinary moment in Irish politics. One would hope in today's world of advanced labour relations that most people who lose their jobs would be entitled to some degree of allowance, compensation, redundancy or pension on the way out. What applies now to Oireachtas Members is radically different from what applied to them five, six or seven years ago. It is fair and balanced. The Bill is brief and I have no suggested amendments.

In respect of the overall presentation of Houses of the Oireachtas Commission business, the dedicated Oireachtas channel notwithstanding, from a public relations perspective we have a long, long way to go in providing a complete view of the work and worth of the Oireachtas and responding to some of the - to put it mildly - erroneous, sometimes deliberately created hysteria which applies. If the Minister of State had been here this morning he would have heard Senator Norris refer to media reports yesterday or the day before about completely manufactured so-called goings on in the Dáil bar. Some journalists present an entirely false view of facts but for many readers, that view becomes reality. It gives politics, politicians and the whole system of democracy a bad name. We need to be much more responsive to that.

We occasionally see a letter written on behalf of the Oireachtas to a national daily newspaper or two but it is not really sufficient. The damage has already been done and the public mindset changed. The commission, our staff and the staff serving as public relations officers for the Houses will certainly have to be much more responsive. They are not responding on behalf of individual Members; I think they are responding on behalf of the Oireachtas itself and of the democratic process and procedure in the State. If I was to be slightly negative I would say we have more work to do in that regard.

I welcome the Bill and the three-year budget. The figures are the cost of democracy and, in the overall scale of Government expenditure, not over 12 months but over three years, the provision and maintenance of democracy, democratic Houses and open, transparent government is value for taxpayers' money. I am happy to support the Minister of State in respect of this Bill.