Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Given that the Minister is not present, it does not matter. We can make all the persuasive arguments in the world. We could persuade the Minister of State but she is not in a position to accept our amendments. The Minister is.

It is important that we put on the record our views, that we push our amendments and that that process takes place but to a certain extent, it does not matter how persuasive our arguments are if they will not be accepted. These amendments will be pressed or withdrawn and re-tabled, and we will have this discussion again. It is an important discussion to have but it seems somewhat futile that we could make a very persuasive argument and, ultimately, our amendments will not be accepted. That is frustrating.