I do not know whether legislation will be required to deal with the matter to which I wish to refer. I do not think legislation would be needed. I think it is recognised on all sides of an Assembly such as this that, in order to make Partiament function, there must be an effective Government and an effective Opposition but, if there is to be an effective Opposition, the complexity of legislation and government has now become so great that it is becoming virtually impossible for an Opposition to function without some kind of secretarial assistance. Anybody who has any experience of it knows that a Minister, of necessity, coming in here to defend any proposition or, indeed, to answer a Question, must be fortified with a considerable brief to which he can make reference. Anyone with experience knows that to carry on an intelligent discussion even on a simple Parliamentary Question, not to mention a motion or a Bill, considerable briefing is requisite from the Minister's point of view.
Up to a certain point, an Opposition can carry on without any corresponding assistance but I think it is becoming more and more obvious, as those of us with some experience have found, that if the Opposition is to give truly effective service in the House, without requiring it to undertake altogether unreasonable burdens, some plan should be worked out whereby a part of the Oireachtas staff would constitute the secretariat of the official Opposition.
I think our people, who have a tendency to criticise public expense, which, I suppose, is a healthy thing, often overlook the facilities which are available to legislators in other countries. It would not be reasonable for a country with our resources to emulate the example of the Congress of the United States of America, nor should we aspire to have available to us the same facilities as the members of Congress have, but it is to be borne in mind that every member of Congress, and that is everybody, every Senator and every Deputy in the House of Representatives, receives not only the Parliamentary allowance of $22,500 but he has attached to him a secretary, a not inconsiderable secretarial staff and a suite of offices.
That is manifestly something far in excess of anything that would be required here but I do think the time has come seriously to consider the provision of what, for want of a better word, I shall describe as a skeleton Civil Service for the Opposition. I recognise at once that to arrange this will not be altogether easy but I do not believe it would be impossible. I would imagine that such persons as were mutually agreed on all sides of the House as being necessary, could be chosen by the Opposition they were intended to serve and be allowed to function as temporary civil servants and have their rates of remuneration equated with persons in corresponding rank in the permanent Civil Service. What would transpire when there was a change of Government, I cannot myself clearly foresee at this time but I do not believe that it would create insuperable difficulties. I imagine personnel of that character could be incorporated into the permanent Civil Service on such occasion as the Opposition became the Government.
I do not want to go too deeply into the detail of this but I think it is a suggestion that might with advantage be considered by all Parties in the House. In the ordinary course of affairs and in the ordinary healthy swing of the political pendulum, we are all likely to find ourselves from time to time on the Opposition or the Government benches and it ought to be our common interest in that we are all members of Parliament and in that we all believe in the Parliamentary system, seriously to consider a reform along the lines which I now suggest, not for the benefit of any particular Party which happens for the time being to be in the Opposition, but for the benefit of the better working of Parliament itself.