Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

If we are to be practical about this, the House is about to go into recess for two months. If we agree to nothing today, then nothing will happen. No assessment will be done. We will come back in the autumn and will still be looking for an independent assessment to be done. The best way for Deputy Pearse Doherty to advance his Bill is for him and the committee to agree today to have an independent impact assessment done on the Bill, so that over the course of the summer recess, that work can be advanced. That is the most important step that can be taken to ensure that time is not lost.

While I think agreement to send a motion to the House would be a matter for the select committee, even if it did, nothing would happen until mid-September. Let us use that time to agree collectively that an independent economic assessment of the Bill should be done. That is the most practical way to ensure that this issue does not go flat and die over the summer months.