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

This legislation has been in contemplation for several months, I think since before the RIA was instigated. Notwithstanding that, I believe there is value in this debate, and I thank everyone for participating this morning and in using this to move forward. This was something that was raised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions with the Minister a year ago. It has been raised again and again, repeatedly. This proposed legislation ensures the change will be made rather than waiting, which is the alternative. That indicates where it came from. Obviously, we will consider any result from the RIA and all information is very welcome, but I felt there was a need, as others did, to progress this on the basis that there did not seem to be any progress being made.

From my perspective, the rationale was to ensure that it becomes a notifiable disease as quickly as possible. We did not want to hang around or wait, but these things unfortunately take time. Naturally, the result of the RIA will inform any future deliberations on this.