Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for attending. We would have liked to invite other groups to attend but, unfortunately, we did not have the time, there was not the space and the Oireachtas was not able to facilitate us to have more meetings on this issue. We realise we are right up to wire with respect to legislation being discussed in the House, but it was important we had this meeting. It gave us a sense of what we need to do in the future. As one of the witnesses said, it is about showing leadership.

If anything, the point that has been made by both groups this morning is that we need to spend more time explaining why these measures are being introduced. We need to give people time. Even at this late stage, if we look to the future we need to have a review mechanism for the extraordinary powers we are giving to a Minister. It is a basic right of people. The Oireachtas should have sufficient time to go through any legislation that gives powers of this sort to a Minister. I appreciate the witnesses' involvement and contributions this morning.