Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his comments. I am familiar with the issues the Minister raises about some of the sections, and we can see from the legislation published yesterday the differences between the Bills. Some of the differences are minor and some are major and we can discuss them as we go through the sections of the Bill. I am very conscious of the Minister's comments to the effect that the passage into law of this legislation, if it passes both Houses of the Oireachtas, and when the Government's merger of both public bodies takes effect, would annul the previous legislation, that is, my legislation. That is what we talked about in our committee report. The principle here is that we need to make sure that the principles within this legislation mirror the same sections in the Government's legislation. This is only about a matter of timing. I am not precious about the fact that I sponsored this Bill. I already have another Bill in Committee Stage, which I have discussed with the Minister of State, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, regarding the timing of that legislation because of the pressures within the Department in dealing with other issues. I am not precious about this at all. I have left it until this Stage. The reason I believe it is important to proceed at this point is that there are people locked out of the system. I am not convinced the Government's legislation will be enacted in law before the summer recess. I wish to flag to the committee the intention, when we conclude this and if it passes Committee Stage, that it would go to Report and Final Stages in the House before the end of this month. We have secured space in the Seanad to proceed with this legislation at the start of June, so there is a pathway to allowing it to become law, which would allow for people who are locked out of the system at present. Yesterday I spoke to a woman who cannot get access to the Financial Services Ombudsman or seek redress from the financial institution because of this rule and is waiting impatiently for this legislation.

I welcome the Minister's comments. I believe the issue of how we proceed has already been discussed by the committee, and we had the benefit of a letter from the Minister stating he would publish the legislation. What we need to do now is make sure that the sections, particularly the likes of sections 4 and 6, are mirrored in the Government's legislation. For that purpose, I am very open to amendments and want to hear what the Government and indeed other Deputies here who have an opinion on this issue have to say to make sure we proceed.