The Labour leader accused the Government of "diminishing respect for politics" among the public because of long Dáil recesses. The House adjourned yesterday for a summer recess of more than 11 weeks.
Mr Pat Rabbitte said that it beggared belief, as far as the public was concerned, that there should be an adjournment until September 29th.
"I think the Government is of the opinion that it is disadvantaging the Opposition and that its manner of treatment of this House is disadvantaging the Opposition. All it is doing is diminishing the stature of the House and diminishing respect for politics."
He added that no government had the track record of the current Coalition, "not even the same combination of parties in the previous government, in terms of its disrespect for this House, the number of guillotines and the manner in which long-promised legislation has not emerged".
The Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, who was taking the Order of Business in the absence of the Taoiseach and Tánaiste, said the Government and many deputies in the House were not going on holidays.
"I will not be surprised to read in the newspapers tomorrow that deputies are on their holidays. The journalists are not to be blamed. The people to blame are those who belittle the committees that will be sitting throughout this month and in September."
Mr Ciarán Cuffe (Green Party, Dún Laoghaire) said the committees were "just window dressing".
Mr Smith said that in that case, deputies should engage in reform, but they did not want to do that either.
Other opposition deputies joined in the criticism of the 11-week adjournment.
The Green Party leader, Mr Trevor Sargent, said there was no denying that people would appreciate a break, but the length of it was the issue. "The Cabinet is due to come back in September which means the Dáil should as well."
Mr Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (SF, Cavan-Monaghan) said that while committees would be meeting, the Dáil chamber would not be in session and the Government would not be held to account over the period, which was a deficiency.
The absence of the Disability Bill was not just a stick with which to beat the Government, he added. "We must recognise the reality of those who are at the coalface of the delivery of services, particularly those in society with disabilities." Earlier, the Fine Gael deputy leader, Mr Richard Bruton, said it was revealing to discover that of the 19 Bills promised by the Government, only nine had been published and 10 remained to be published. "Of the nine published, one was published only this morning."
Criticising Ministers who had failed to meet their commitments to publish legislation, Mr Bruton added: "I accept that some Ministers are fortunate in that they did not promise to produce any Bills and cannot be accused of failing to deliver. These individuals buried their talents well."
Mr Smith said that since the Government parties were returned to office, 90 Bills had been enacted. "Ten Bills on the A list have been published and the remainder on the A list will be published this summer. Fourteen Bills have been published altogether."
