There were no proposals before the Government on electoral reform, but work was being done on the issue, the Taoiseach said.

Mr Ahern said that the issue was being considered by an all-party Oireachtas committee, and the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, had also stated his views.

Pressed by the opposition, Mr Ahern said people should not come to the conclusion that Fianna Fail had some huge Machiavellian plot to change the system. "We are a bit short of numbers here to do that anyway at the moment."

The Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, asked if there was any truth in newspaper reports that the Government wished to get rid of PR and replace it with a system whereby party headquarters would decide which TDs would be elected in what order.

"There is no such proposal, yet," replied Mr Ahern. "But I think, as Deputy Bruton would know, that is a system, the list system, which people here have spoken about. It is a regular system across continental Europe."

He added that the Minister for the Environment's suggestion was that there should be a system similar to that used in presidential and by-elections. ail was such that the party it would be go against giving to a the party leader or head office of any party the right to select the order in which TDs might have a chance of being elected.

Mr Ahern said that all the proposals on electoral reform had to be examined. "I think it is good that we have a debate on the issue. We have stuck with our system for a long time. Perhaps following the debate, we will end up with exactly the same system."

The Labour leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, said that the debate on electoral reform had been dominated by the larger parties. If there was to be a focus on reform, the House should look at the marvellous example which the all-party sub-committee of the Public Accounts Committee had given in the way in which it had carried out its work.

"The issue of reform is not how you get into this House, but what you do when you get here."