Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will be brief. To reassure Deputy Higgins, the Opposition takes its role on Committee Stage very seriously given we were denied pre-legislative scrutiny on this Bill. It is a fundamentally different Bill from the former Minister, Eoghan Murphy's earlier version, as the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, rightly reminded us of.

The purpose of this Committee Stage, as I understand it, is twofold. It is, first, to ensure there is full public scrutiny of a profoundly important proposition. This agency will have a lifespan of up to 20 years. It will have an initial capitalisation of €1.25 billion of public money and borrow a similar amount. The suggestion we should not take a few hours to scrutinise this Bill and, more importantly, to table amendments to try to improve it, which is exactly what we are trying to do, is a remarkable statement for a Government Deputy to make. I hope the Deputy is not trying to limit this important discussion or deny us the opportunity to table these amendments because that would be unfortunate.

I am pressing amendment No. 1.