I was in discussion with Leinster House staff yesterday about organising a tour of constituents around the Dail and Seanad. These things are always booked far in advance so I did not even bother trying to get a date in March. I started in April and was told not to bother with the mid 2 weeks of April. I questioned why to be told that the Oireachtas would probably not be sitting.
I was stunned. The chain of events will go something like this. National strike end of March. Emergency budget start of April. Dail and Seanad go on holiday! Am I the only one that spots would awefully bad this is. How provocative this will be?
Fine Gael yesterday published proposals to completely overhaul the operation of the Oireachtas. They are radical but badly needed. Increasing the number of sitting days, reducing the number of Oireachtas Committees and Ministers of State dramatically and revamping the Seanad. All of the detail is available here.
All of these measures should be implemented now.