The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, should think again before changing the Dail's standing orders to limit the amount of time given to answering questions from opposition TDs.
A proposal, due to be adopted by the Dail today, would require the Taoiseach to attend parliament and answer questions only on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, with a Cabinet Minister or the Government Chief Whip deputising for him on Thursdays. Such a formal reduction in the time accorded to Dail business by the head of Government would send all the wrong signals to the public at a time when the democratic process is under extreme pressure because of the findings of the various tribunals.
Nobody doubts that Mr Ahern is a busy man. And he works extremely hard. At the same time, the importance of Dail questions, and the accountability of the Taoiseach and his ministers when parliament sits, is central to public confidence in the system.
As was pointed out by the McCracken Tribunal, if Dail questions had been answered properly at the time, much of its work would have been unnecessary. At the moment, the Dail sits in plenary session for three days a week and for about nine months of the year. That arrangement has been perpetuated by a succession of governments which, with thinly disguised disdain, regarded the Dail as a necessary nuisance. If this new proposal is adopted, Mr Ahern would be required to answer to his peers on approximately 80 days in the year.
Dail procedures are in dire need of improvement, but this proposal does not address the major issues. The introduction of a four-day week and a ban on TDs holding membership of county councils is necessary. The system of "priority questions" which prevents backbenchers from contributing at Question Time should be abolished. A question and answer session should follow set-piece debates. In all of this, reducing the availability of the Taoiseach would be a retrograde step.
The fact that the Government has engaged in a shoddy, backstairs deal with the Labour Party to give it a semblance of cross-party support should fool nobody. In return for formal recognition as the second largest opposition party in the Dail (the 23-strong technical group composed of the Green Party, Sinn Fein, the Socialist Party and Independents had usurped that position) Labour was pressurised into supporting the Government.
As one of his last duties as party leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn should revisit that undertaking.