Of Laws and Men

At the outset of my speech, I referred to the fact that our overheads - the costs not directly related to output - have gotten out of proportion with the realities of our income position, both for the economy as a whole and for the public sector in particular. I have already outlined measures for dealing with this in the various departments of government and for encouraging adjustments in the private sector.

Sadly, I must say to you, my colleagues here in the Dail, that the extent of the mess that an-Iar-Thaoiseach agus a Thanaiste have left us, means that the cost of running this House must also be subject to scrutiny on the same basis.

In our system of government, the People are sovereign and they have enacted a Constitution to regulate our structures. Among the limitations they put on our power was an upper limit to the number of deputies, as well as a lower one. Governments of every stripe have succumbed to the temptation to stick as close as possible to the upper limit, with the result that there are now 166 of us when the Constitution only requires that there be 111. Moreover, we now have less power than when these limits were set, because of our enthusiasm for sharing sovereignty with our EU friends.

Not only that, but we are now prohibited from double-jobbing as local authority representatives.

It gets worse, I am afraid. As a practising lawyer, I know that while we have been increasing the quantity of our legislative output, this has not reflected additional effort because the quality of the output has been appalling. I regret to say that a number of episodes have confirmed that, despite our numbers, none of us managed to spot a number of gross errors in legislation as it passed through the House, with embarrassing consequences.

If the job of legislators is to legislate, the first requirement is that we be able to read what is presented for our approval and that we actually scrutinise it for errors and for other undesirable features, before we vote for it and not afterwards. (An Taoiseach has made a firm purpose of amendment in this regard).

The Government has come to the view that in order to raise standards of legislative review, a special increase in the real pay of TDS is appropriate, and an increase in their specialist support.

Fortunately, the greatest deflation in 80 years makes that task easier, so much so that the nominal reduction of 10% in your pay rates will seem more like a 10 % increase.

The resources available have shrunk by more, however, and in order to make a contribution to the cost-savings demanded elsewhere, with immediate effect, the Government propose to make 55 of us redundant. Additionally, the number of junior ministries is to be reduced to 10. The civil service teams allocated to handling ministers' political work will be re-organised into one central team serving all TDs with executive functions, with a saving in personnel expected to be in three figures.

In line with the greater discipline being expected elsewhere, the rules for use of Ministers' cars will be clarified and tightened. In brief, speed limits will be enforced strictly by tachometer, and use of state cars will not be permitted for personal or political travel.