Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will refer the Senator's comments to both Ministers concerned.

Without being in any way disrespectful to the issues he and others have raised here, I wish to raise the more fundamental issue of how he as a Senator is able to engage with the line Minister who has responsibility for policy. I do not disagree with anything the Senator has raised here but I am sure there are other moving parts within the Department that I am not aware of in this context. A suggestion I have made to Senator Buttimer already this morning is that the House might look at some sort of scheduling mechanism in order for it to be of value to Senators to raise matters on behalf of their constituents or policy-related matters. I am thinking of a provision whereby if a Minister gets advance notice of maybe a week or ten days, they or someone from their Department must be made available to the Seanad on that day. If there were five or six people who wanted to raise different issues in a fixed period to that Minister on that day, almost like a live mic or Question Time, it would be far more beneficial than having somebody like myself giving a scripted answer without the policy knowledge needed for a comprehensive level of engagement. As Senator Kyne has been in this position, I know he understands the point. I would not suggest anything to the Upper House as to how it should run its affairs. I have always enjoyed my engagement here. It is far more productive than the Dáil, to be quite honest. I have had many a good sword-fight with Senator Higgins. I think something needs to change in this regard. It is not fair to the scale of the problems individuals are raising, and nor is it fair to the Government Departments that want to get a message out.