GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS incurred estimated costs of more than €9.3 million answering parliamentary questions from TDs last year.
More than 46,500 questions were asked by deputies of the 30th and 31st Dáils last year, down on the 53,000 asked in 2010. The number of questions asked by individual TDs varied hugely, with a single Fine Gael TD, Bernard Durkan from Kildare North, asking more than 5 per cent of all questions.
In 2008, the Department of Enterprise estimated that it cost €200 to answer a parliamentary question. The Government is proposing to extend the parliamentary question system to cover not only departments but also all State agencies.
A “radical extension” of the system, making it a statutory duty for all bodies to answer questions, is promised in the programme for government.
The document also contains a commitment to amend Dáil standing orders to ensure that replies are furnished within a specified number of days, even during the Dáil recess.
TDs use parliamentary questions to hold the government to account and obtain information for their constituents, but critics say the system is expensive.
There are few limits on the number of questions a TD can ask.
Changes have been mooted in response to concerns over the number and content of questions. TDs sometimes ask questions that have already been asked before, or which are not capable of reply by the minister to whom they are addressed.
On occasion, the information sought is freely available elsewhere.
Health attracts the greatest number of questions, with the Department of Health fielding an average of 6,000 questions annually. Last year, Minister for Health James Reilly said he would answer questions only about operational issues of national concern and would refer questions about individual patients and local servants to the HSE. Dr Reilly argued that while his department had ultimate responsibility for the health services, a balance had to be struck between the responsibility of local managers for local issues and the accountability of ministers.
Mr Durkan, who has for many years topped the list of TDs putting down questions, asked 2,535 questions last year.
This was almost twice the 1,312 questions asked by the next deputy on the list, Labour TD for Kildare South, Jack Wall.
Asking questions should be “part and parcel” of what a TD does, according to Mr Durkan. He tends to ask a mix of questions covering wider policy issues on the one hand and specific personal matters on the other.
Many of his queries relate to individuals’ social welfare entitlements or to particular asylum and immigration cases.
In his answers to Mr Durkan, Minister for Justice Alan Shatter ends each reply by advising his party colleague that a special email service exists for TDs to ask the immigration authorities directly about the status of individual immigration cases.
However, the questions keep coming.
Aside from Mr Durkan and Mr Wall, four other deputies asked more than 1,000 questions last year: Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin (1,278), Fianna Fáil finance spokesman Michael McGrath (1,136), Independent Kerry South TD Brendan Griffin (1,057) and Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams (1,032).
TDs with low numbers of questions to their name include Labour’s Alex White (21), Brendan Howlin (17) and Colm Keaveney (9); and Fine Gael’s Shane McEntee (18).
Taoiseach Enda Kenny asked 198 questions during the year.