It is regrettable that the Oireachtas has not yet got around to establishing its committees system. The Oireachtas Commission has recently assigned additional resources to education and public relations activity designed to raise the profile of and improve understanding about the work of both the Dáil and Seanad. This effort is undermined, however, by the manner in which the houses themselves order some of their affairs, writes Noel Whelan
Complaints from Seanad Éireann that the media does not pay it enough attention are often countered by the response that it will continue to be viewed as irrelevant until it reforms how it is elected. Similarly complaints from deputies and senators that the important work of Oireachtas committees does not get enough coverage can now be countered by pointing out that the committees must not be that important since they have still not even been established four months after the election.
It would not have been possible to finalise the membership of the Oireachtas committees until after the Seanad election in July but preparations for their establishment could and should have been in place pending the Seanad results.
There is no good reason why the committees could not have been announced in August or early September. This would have allowed time for the newly appointed chairs and committee members to read themselves into the brief and hit the ground running in their area of responsibility when the Dáil reconvened for its autumn session.
The delay reflects the instinctive aversion which all governments have to parliamentary accountability. It also reflects the Taoiseach's tendency to stagger the announcement of promotions within his parliamentary party.
Delaying the establishment of the committees ensured him a relatively peaceful summer since deputies who may have been disappointed or demoted during June's reshuffle of Ministers and Ministers of State have since held their tongues in the hope of preferment for committee chairmanships.
Another reason for the delay has been Fine Gael's insistence that, with its bulked up parliamentary party, it is entitled to the chair on more of the committees. By tradition an opposition member has always held the chair of the powerful Public Accounts Committee which audits all public expenditure and of the European Affairs Committee which, among other things, is responsible for the oversight of European Union legislation. Fine Gael is holding out for more and has promised to continue to make life difficult for Government deputies by calling frequent quorums and limiting pairing arrangements until there is some give on their demands.
Bertie Ahern is said to have indicated to his parliamentary party this week that he is likely to give the Opposition at least a couple of additional committee chairs - a suggestion that apparently met with murmurs of discontent from among the ranks of Fianna Fáil deputies. Bullish after their election victory, they see no need to share the spoils, least of all with Fine Gael. However, reports yesterday that four new committees will be created will have assuaged some of these concerns.
Apart from the Public Accounts Committee and the European Affairs Committee, there were 12 committees in the last Dáil and their areas of responsibility largely mirrored those of the Government departments, with some of the committees being responsible for two departments.
These committees get their work programme from three sources. Firstly, the Dáil refers bills to them for the committee stage debate where the line by line consideration of legislation is conducted. Most bills are now dealt with at committee stage by these smaller groupings rather than in the full house.
Secondly, each committee considers the spending estimates for each department and the various agencies in its area. This gives them an important function in holding ministers, public servants and agency heads to account not just for how they spend money but also more generally.
The Dáil "select" committee members are joined by members from the Seanad and become "joint" committees for the exercise of their third set of powers, which is to initiate inquiries into particular policy matters or projects in their policy area.
The extent to which the committees have used this later function has varied. The better chairpersons have been those who have been prepared to push the boat out and run the risk of irritating Ministers by utilising these powers.
Some of the most useful consideration of new policy challenges done within our political system over the last couple of years has been done at Oireachtas committees. The work of the Oireachtas Committee on Communications, the Marine and Natural Resources chaired by Cork North Central deputy Noel O'Flynn in the last Oireachtas is a case in point.
This committee, whose membership included the energy spokespersons for all the Opposition parties, was ahead of the wider public debate about the need for a transformation in our energy policy.
During the course of 2005 and 2006, it held a series of hearings on changing energy needs, taking evidence from a range of experts including the European Union Commissioner for Energy and the vice chair of the energy committee of the Danish parliament. It was during the course of this committee work that the seeds of an all-party consensus on a new energy policy were first sown. The surprisingly close working relationship which developed between the then energy minister, Noel Dempsey, and the then Green Party spokesman, Eamon Ryan, also sprouted in that committee room.
There is much work for the Oireachtas committees to do. In our political system the executive branch has a near complete stranglehold on the Dáil timetable. The committees have become one of the few means by which our parliament has been able to hold government to account.
Our public administration is increasingly complex; the volume of money now being spent by departments is greater than ever and there is a growing range of autonomous and semi-autonomous agencies, many of whom operate without any parliamentary accountability. The need for strong Oireachtas committees is greater than ever. They should be let get on with their important work.