Michael Colreavy (Sligo-North Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

My point is that we do not have the draft Bill and do not, therefore, have enough information to enable us to make a valuable contribution to the discussion. What we are looking at today is the intention behind different Parts of the Bill. I might be wrong and this may turn out to be a very useful discussion, but at this point in time I cannot see what value I, for one, can add to the debate for the benefit of those who are working on the draft legislation.

Having said that, I do not disagree that the current body of legislation in this area needs to be updated and consolidated. Indeed, the same is probably true for a lot of areas of legislation. Generally where one sees a long list of old Bills, there is scope to consolidate and improve.