Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

What about the optional protocol?

How does Ms McDonagh feel about that? It seems to be a big bugbear. We have been trying to push the Government to deal with it. It is grand to say that people have a right to something but without addressing the optional protocol, it is only a right on paper. Someone can be approved for a three-bedroom house but if it has not been built yet, the person does not get it. Does Ms McDonagh understand what I am saying? How can we proactively push the Government into ratifying the final bit? Would it put the Government under pressure? If there is an automatic right to a service, the Government would be caught because it would not be able to provide the service. That is the reason it is not ratifying the entire package and is leaving the optional protocol out.