Micheál Martin
Question:4. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Taoiseach to outline the Cabinet sub-committee meetings that were held in February and March. [12886/14]
View answerTuesday, 8 July 2014
Questions (4, 5, 6, 7)
Micheál Martin
Question:5. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Taoiseach the number of Cabinet committee meetings that were held in the month of March 2014. [17515/14]
View answer
Joe Higgins
Question:6. Deputy Joe Higgins asked the Taoiseach the number of Cabinet sub-committees held in February and March 2014. [19931/14]
View answerMicheál Martin
Question:7. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Taoiseach the number of Cabinet sub-committee meetings that are planned for the month of May. [20863/14]
View answerOral answers (11 contributions)
I propose to take Questions Nos. 4 to 7, inclusive, together.
I chaired six Cabinet committee meetings in February, five in March and four in May. The Cabinet committee on health met once in February and twice in May. The Cabinet committee on mortgage arrears and credit availability met once in March and once in May. The Cabinet committees on public service reform and social policy each met once in February. The Cabinet committees on Irish and the Gaeltacht and European Affairs each met once in February and once in March. The Cabinet committee on economic infrastructure met once in March and the Cabinet committee on justice reform met once in May 2014. The Cabinet committee on climate change and the green economy met once in February. The Cabinet committee on economic recovery and jobs met once in March and its sub-committee on Pathways to Work met once in February and once in March. The Economic Management Council, which has the status of a Cabinet committee, met three times in February, twice in March and once in May.
I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. He mentioned that the new justice sub-committee had met once since the new Minister's appointment. That meeting was in May. Will the Taoiseach indicate whether a programme of reform has been drawn up for the Department of Justice and Equality and whether its Secretary General attended that meeting?
Does the Deputy mean the one dealing with the statutory authority for the Garda?
No, just the reform programme generally in respect of justice, which had been promised. Was the Secretary General at that meeting? We are still conscious that the Minister has not articulated confidence in the Secretary General of her own Department. I would be interested in knowing how that plays out at committee meetings.
The Taoiseach mentioned that the health sub-committee met once in February and held a second meeting in May, or were there two in May? According to the Minister, Deputy Reilly, a significant programme of profound change is under way in the health service. Surely there would have been more Cabinet sub-committee meetings if that were the case.
There is a greater crisis in health now than ever before. There is no sense of any profound change taking place. If anything, the situation is getting worse in terms of waiting lists and so on. The Taoiseach said the mortgage committee met once in February, and I am not sure if it met in May. That is one Cabinet committee that has singularly failed to deal comprehensively with a chronic, ongoing problem, with up to more than 90,000 people in arrears over three months and more than 24,000 people who have not paid their full mortgage in two years. There are major social issues emanating from that. It seems that the only result one can detect from the policy of increasing the number of Cabinet committee meetings is that less Government activity is now open to public scrutiny. As the Taoiseach is aware, all of these meetings are covered by Cabinet confidentiality, therefore, many of the policy workings in the groups that meet to feed into these Cabinet committees are not subject to public discussion. Will the structure be revisited after the Cabinet reshuffle? Given the nature of the frequency of the meetings, they do not seem to having any impact other than to take from the role of public scrutiny?
Deputy Higgins has a question tabled in this grouping.
The Taoiseach said that the Economic Management Council met three times in the period we asked about. It comprises the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste, the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. Considering that the new Tánaiste bitterly criticised the workings of that committee and the dictatorial powers that she thought it took to itself, does he foresee a major change in the membership of that Cabinet sub-committee or in how it would work, or will the fact that the Tánaiste is inside the tent now rather than outside it calm her down in regard to that particular issue?
Second, when will the Taoiseach announce his revised Cabinet and will there be a discussion-----
That is a separate question altogether.
-----or an opportunity for a debate in the Dáil on that?
Are you volunteering, Joe?
The committee on justice was set up to deal with the presentation of options for the setting up of a statutory independent authority for the Garda. It has met, I believe, on two occasions and the officials have met on a number of occasions in between to follow on its work programme. I expect it will meet again next week. The intention is that there should be a set of proposals to deal with the setting up of the statutory authority available this month which can be debated in the House. Another element of that was the competition being put in place and in process by the Minister for Justice and Equality in respect of the appointment of the Commissioner of the Garda.
In regard to Deputy Higgins's comments, the Economic Management Council met three times in February, twice in March and once in May.
Deputy Martin asked whether the structure of the Cabinet sub-committees will be revisited. These used to operate irregularly on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays - I tend to do them one Monday in the month. They are substantial meetings and, from my point of view, they are a very good facility to bring a conclusion to processes that are going on in Departments for a very long time, then they go to Cabinet for decision, acceptance or whatever, having been discussed and concluded at the Cabinet sub-committee meetings. I find they are a method of being able to timeline and force conclusions on issues that have been around for a long time. I do not propose any change in that structure; I find it works well. It is quite important to say that the outcome of them goes to Cabinet for final decision and obviously for discussion afterwards.
In regard to Deputy Higgins's comment, any time new people are appointed to Cabinet, there must be a debate and a vote on it in the Dáil and that will take place in the event of new faces in new places in the not too distant future and the Deputy will have an opportunity to make his comments.
When?
Written Answers follow Adjournment.