Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I mean no disrespect by not supporting the amendment. I am doing so on the basis of extensive advice from my Department. The Bill has been significantly scrutinised and redrafted on the back of this committee's engagement and it has gone through incredibly extensive legal analysis and further redrafting. It is a redrafting of existing 2015 legislation. It is not fresh ground we are going over; it is something that has been carefully examined. It is hugely significant politically, with huge consequences in terms of the roll-out and the structures of the public service. It is not a Bill that will be easily further amended.

I mean no disrespect to the committee in saying that. It reflects the amount of work that has been done and the balancing that has been achieved within Government and within Departments and elsewhere to get it right. I think we have a very good Bill. I hear what the Deputy is saying about trying to improve it further and so on, but I also have to take into account the many other considerations in terms of the broad agreement we have on what is already hugely significant and consequential legislation.