Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Obviously, the Bill has a narrow focus. Part of that focus and part of the reason it is being brought forward is because the Government, in particular the Attorney General, was facing a court challenge due to be held in July which it would have lost, essentially on account of the reasons articulated by the Minister on Second Stage last week.

I rang the Ceann Comhairle's office to find out why my amendments were out of order. I was told it was because the Bill was only dealing with the issue of bankruptcy. This could have been a golden opportunity to deal with an anomaly in time for the local and European elections. The anomaly is that the Government calls us Independents on this side of the House, the media calls us Independents, we describe ourselves as Independents on our election material, we describe ourselves as Independents in press statements and we describe ourselves as Independents in everything that we do politically and yet we are not allowed to describe ourselves as Independents on the ballot paper. This could be changed if there was a will to change it and this would have been a timely opportunity to do so.

If this amendment was taken and agreed, it could have been done in time for the local and European elections. Instead, people will be expected to leave the space blank or to describe themselves as "non-party". I am not "non-party". I could decide to be in a party if I wished. I am not deficient because I am not in a party. I want to describe myself on the ballot paper as Independent, as do the hundreds of Independents who will be contesting the election. It is long past time that this was changed. I regret that we are not even going to be allowed to debate the amendment. It is a foregone conclusion that it will not be included and that is regrettable.

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