Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)

I wish to clarify some matters for the record. Last evening, the Minister claimed, on a procedural point, he only received a copy of the Bill on Monday afternoon and said in future it would be important that Bills were made available to him as soon as possible.

The Journal Office was notified prior to 11 a.m. on Friday as to the subject of the Labour Party's Private Members' time. At 11.38 a.m., the Journal Office e-mailed political parties and several individuals as to the business. Among those who received the e-mail was the Chief Whip's office and an individual in the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. The e-mail advised copies of the Bill were available from the General Office.

If there was a problem with the Minister receiving the Bill on Tuesday afternoon, it was an internal problem in his Department. The Minister may want to address that.

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