Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

They achieve the same thing but one cannot be judge and jury in one's own cause. That is a very simple principle. This is an initiative on which I am generally happy to support the Minister. The Minister came to the House all smiles and he was very reasonable. All I can say from my first few months in the Seanad is that it is a very disappointing set-up. There are very few people in the Seanad, but the public are listening and I appeal to the media to report on it. People have put in a lot of solid work both in the background in terms of the officials behind the Minister of State and in providing the responses. We will have another day for that. It is very disingenuous for the people who put in enormous effort and hard work into the legislation and then one looks at the empty benches in here. The same people are bellyaching on the street and out on the plinth instead of being in here doing their work. That is very disappointing, but that is the way business is done. We have a lot to learn and I am only new here. Day by day I can see this place needs radical reform.

We sought an independent review because the Minister of State needs to be reviewed. The Minister also needs to be reviewed, as do his officials. The people in the Custom House dealing with the section on fast-tracking the system need to be reviewed. The Minister of State referred to the term "fast-track" three times. The Minister does not like the word, as he announced recently to us in here. He does not believe it is a fast-tracking process, yet all over Rebuilding Ireland we read "fast-track". The language appears to be somewhat different depending on the person to whom one speaks.

We have no choice but to accept one of the two options. Fianna Fáil said it would look at an amendment with us but no one contacted us. There is no suggestion of an independent review in Fianna Fáil's amendment and I will not support it for a number of reasons. First, there was no meaningful engagement since we last spoke in here. I take things seriously. If people say to me they will engage with us then let us engage. The Minister of State's amendment is the better of the two. I respect what he said, based on what his officials have said, that amendment No. 6 is the more legalistic parliamentary wording. I fully accept that.

It is disappointing that the review is not independent. The Department will be acting as judge and jury in its own cause. The only consolation in all of this, which I welcome, is that this scheme will not be extended after 31 December 2021. I am disappointed there is no independent element in the review but, as someone said to me coming up the stairs to the Chamber, I should not be surprised, that this is how the public service works, and that is how the civil servants structure everything. We are stuck with a system that has been initiated by the Minister and his officials, and sometime at their leisure, before the sunset clause comes into effect, they will carry out a review of themselves. That is very disappointing.

This is only the start of the process. I will speak to a number of my Independent colleagues. People who support the Government should listen and bring this message back. I will endeavour to make some changes. What I have learned out of this process is that if they think it is dog rough in here they have still to get into Dáil Éireann. I think a lot of what the Government has thrown out in this Chamber will come back to eat them in that Chamber. I mean in a political sense. A lot of good, meaningful work, in particular in regard to this matter was not dealt with but that is where we are. Of the two amendments I will support the one sponsored by the Minister of State.