Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I support this legislation. It is important that the Houses of the Oireachtas have a funding stream from the Central Fund but it should also be subject to ministerial accountability and control. I am of the view that a happy balance can be struck between the two.

The Office of the Information Commissioner recently found that the Office of Public Works unlawfully breached section 15(4) of the Freedom of Information Act by refusing all efforts by Independent Members of the Seanad to have access to OPW plans to replace the Oireachtas Library reading room at Leinster House with a wholly unnecessary second Chamber for the Dáil. The Senators sought details of the plans to spend €3.7 million reconfiguring the beautiful Oireachtas Library as a Chamber for parallel sittings of Dáil Éireann. Not only would that project cost an extra €3.7 million as a capital expenditure, it would have added €1.6 million annually to the running costs of Dáil Éireann. Members became aware of this gross waste of public money when a slide presentation was made in private to a Dáil sub-committee. It was suggested that the Dáil could avoid late sittings if a second Chamber was used. The same result could be achieved by commencing Dáil sittings at 10 a.m. on Tuesdays or meeting on Monday afternoons or Friday mornings.

In the meantime, the beautiful Oireachtas Library has been reduced to a tatty state with cheap furniture. Although it is a legally protected structure, its floorboards were removed and replaced by composite wooden panelling in preparation for the creation of a second Chamber. Its historical light fittings have been replaced by cheaper fittings. Independent Senators have drawn this to the attention of the planning and enforcement section of Dublin City Council and an investigation into the matter has commenced.

We polled the Members of the Oireachtas and found that a clear majority were opposed to this change.It is a private project that is not supported by the majority of Oireachtas Members. I do not believe the entire project will continue but it was a scandalous waste of public money. It was an unlawful and ugly interference with a projected structure and a completely unnecessary division of Dáil Éireann into two parallel sittings in two Chambers. People talk about the €300,000 bicycle shed expenditure, which was an indication of where things could go wrong and go off the rails. This is in the pipeline and it is a scandal that Members of this House who sought details of what was planned from the OPW, which is under the Minister's general control, were refused, with evasive tactics, any access to any records relating to this project on three or four occasions. We know it would cost €3.7 million to further wreck that library building. It would cost €1.6 million every year to run a second Dáil Chamber, not to mention the security implications of having the main hall of Leinster House so close to sessions of the Dáil whereby it would be difficult to provide adequate security.

We need value for money. There have been a number of projects in these Houses that have been a waste of money, such as the phone system, which the great majority of staff did not want. A very expensive phone system was put in place which staff did not want. We now have advertising hoardings in this building which are ugly and unnecessary, and which are bombarding us with information about security and all the rest. It is like being in an airport at this stage. I am speaking about these internal notice boards.

If we are serious about Leinster House continuing to be the Parliament it can be, one thing the incoming Government is going to have to face up to is the provision in the Constitution that there has to be one TD for every 20,000 to 30,000 people in the population. On population projections, we are going to have 250 Members of Dáil Éireann by 2050. If you were to apply our current standard of representation to Westminster, for the information of the House, there would be approximately 2,300 Members of the House of Commons. If we want to do something to preserve this House and to conserve public expenditure on the parliamentary process, and I believe the parliamentary process deserves generous support, we should run a referendum to say that the total number of TDs shall be whatever figure the Government chooses. Perhaps it chooses 160 TDs or 180 TDs to be divided among constituencies equally, with the same ratio of people to TDs across the country. That would serve a much greater purpose.

The public was outraged when it saw the €330,000 spent on a bicycle shed. That was reasonable anger in the circumstances. It was a project that was not the subject of really careful scrutiny as to whether it was excessive in all the circumstances. It could have been done far more cheaply. The prospect of spending €3.5 million to wreck a service most Members of this House strongly value to provide a parallel Dáil Chamber is a complete and scandalous waste of money. The real issue is that a Dáil committee was persuaded this was the only way to reduce working hours to not later than 8.30 p.m. without considering starting earlier on a Tuesday morning or, as in Westminster, doing Private Members' Business on a Friday morning and deferring the votes until the following Wednesday. None of that was considered. The idea the Government would spend €3.7 million on this project and an extra €1.6 million every year to man, if I can use that phrase in this day and age, the security and secretarial aspects of this parallel Chamber structure to no particular effect is a real example of wasteful public expenditure.

I support the Bill. I support multi-annual budgeting. I also support the requirement for what is spent within the envelope that is provided from the Central Fund. However, and this is the important point, the Members of the Seanad and the Dáil are entitled to be consulted. They are entitled to know what is being planned. They are certainly not entitled to be deliberately obstructed by the Office of Public Works to the point where the Information Commissioner has to intervene and overturn the refusal to provide adequate plans to Members of this House.