Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Those are my questions. To sum up, I am very grateful to my fellow Deputies for their contributions and to our guests in particular for giving us their time. It has been very insightful. There has been a great level of detail. There is probably a great deal more to tease out but we are certainly an awful lot wiser. There is a great deal more to be done in this institution and this committee must keep up the pressure.

One of the main obstacles to Private Members' Bills is the requirement that the Government provide a money message. We will have to keep continual pressure on in that regard to ensure that this Bill advances through Committee Stage and beyond. Unfortunately, it is not simply the case that this Bill will continue in train. A good deal of pressure must be applied. However, I am optimistic following the comments of fellow Deputies and I hope that we can advance this Bill further without too much delay.

Fundamentally, this is about access to justice and the better administration of cases. It is about giving people the tools to take cases where previously they had been prevented from doing so because of the cost of litigation and representation. On Second Stage, I quoted the comments of the former Chief Justice, Susan Denham, on the launch of the Law Reform Commission paper, when she said that the law was too expensive, too slow and too unequal. I believe this to be the case, but I also believe that the introduction of a route of action such as envisaged in this Bill can make a significant difference in that regard. I look forward to engaging with Deputies and experts on an ongoing basis to advance the Bill further.