Vol. 492 No. 1
1 Mr. Higgins (Mayo) asked the Taoiseach his views on whether a standard procedure should be introduced for notification to the public of Bills published by his Department and other Departments and the subsequent enactment of these Bills; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13391/98]
The House will be aware that it has been the practice for some time for the Government Chief Whip to issue, through the Government Information Services, at the start of each Dáil session, a press release setting out the Bills the Government proposes to publish in that session. The press release also includes a list of all promised Government legislation.
In addition, it is the practice for Ministers to issue, through their departmental press officers, press releases announcing proposals for legislation. When the text of a Bill is approved by Government it is usual for a press release on the Bill to issue through the Government Information Services. These various press releases are augmented by media briefings and interviews by the Ministers concerned.
Further public awareness of Bills as they pass through the Oireachtas is created by media coverage of the debates on the legislation. These measures are in addition to the various constitutional and statutory requirements concerning legislation which must be complied with.
I fully appreciate the point made by the Deputy in his question and there is scope for improvement in how we, not just as a Government but as a Parliament, communicate to the public the legislative and other work we are doing. To this end I have asked the Government Information Service, in conjunction with departmental press officers, to review arrangements for issuing information concerning legislation to ensure that it is disseminated as widely as possible and also to ensure that it is particularly targeted at those who are likely to be affected by it. I also see a role for the Joint Committee on Broadcasting and Parliamentary Information in this matter and, as Chairman of that committee, I will raise the matter at its next meeting. I look forward to the support and input of all sides of the House in putting in place the procedures and systems necessary to ensure that the valuable legislative work of Parliament is communicated effectively to the public at large.
(Mayo): Will the Minister of State agree that what happens here is largely unknown to the public and yet it has a vital bearing on the lives of people in terms of their rights and responsibilities? For example as the Minister of State said, from the Government's list of promised legislation 22 Bills were enacted since the Government came into office, 11 more have been promised and yet there is a general lack of awareness from the point of view of the public. Many people feel they have no stake in what is going on. This is clear from the dwindling voting returns where the turnout for the by-elections in Limerick and Dublin was 50 per cent, the general election 62 per cent, the British-Irish Agreement and the Amsterdam Treaty 60 per cent. Given that four or five out of every ten people believe that what is happening here is of no relevance to them, there is need to address this as a matter of urgency.
The issues raised by Deputy Higgins are broader than merely communicating the message of what we do. He has touched on something that is much more complex an issue, that is respect for parliament and what it does. From the point of view of legislation we have a legislation committee which is made up of senior officials — the Attorney General, people from the Draftspersons Office, my office, the Taoiseach's Office and so on — who meet on a weekly basis. We try through that committee to give advance notice of the legislation coming through the system. We are committed to ensuring, when it comes to future press releases that we become more accurate. If legislation is unlikely to be available until l999 we will make sure that is stated clearly in the press release so that expectations are not heightened.
We now have a Broadcasting and Parliamentary Information Committee. The public relations officer of the House will report to that committee and has the job of communicating to the public details of the legislation we are planning to take. At our last meeting we discussed whether official notices might be placed in newspapers to list the legislation to be taken. I am certain the public is aware of the major Bills that come before the House. It is the smaller items which may not be so glamorous but which are important that may be overlooked. I have in mind the plethora of directives from Brussels and other legislation which would never excite the public interest but nevertheless is important. There may be a case for placing in the newspapers an official notice of the list of legislation to be taken and the legislation that has been passed. The revamped Oireachtas committees will help a great deal in that area. We now have committees that shadow each Department and they give rise to more public knowledge about what is going on here.
