Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Please allow me to speak, Deputy Doherty. I am still the Chairman of this committee. I am only trying to keep this committee meeting going through the day. I gave very great leeway yesterday and last night. We have a lot of work to get through. I would like members to stick to the amendments so that we can get through the work. If the Deputy wants to provoke rows about water charges and homelessness, that is fine, but then I will become even more rigid in enforcing what people can and cannot say and this will be of no use to Deputy Doherty or anyone else. I will endeavour to allow leeway in the discussions on the amendments but I would prefer if we would discuss Committee Stage because this is not a Second Stage debate. It is Committee Stage which is to do with teasing out the amendments. The Deputy well understands how the committee works; he did not only arrive here yesterday or the day before yesterday. I ask that we deal with what we are obliged to deal with. I am not dragging my party politics into it and it is quite clear what is going on here.