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

This section is opposed. This is a very important piece of legislation that has huge and significant implications domestically and internationally within Europe. Before I start, I thank the Minister of State and his officials for their engagement on this. It is a complex piece of legislation and we welcome the open door. That has been very useful. Many thanks to the Minister of State and his officials.

I am opposing this section. We can see how important this is from the breadth of the EU regulation and the Bill before us, as well as the pages of amendments that have been submitted. For this reason, I do not see why there is a need for such wide-ranging powers of regulation. I would not agree with any arguments in respect of speed and agility because we can see it can be done fast. It has been done fairly fast in this instance in advance of the February deadline. Any changes to such an important piece of legislation should be brought through the Oireachtas so we can see and scrutinise the scope, scale and nature of what the Government of the day is attempting to do. This legislation has a particular impact on free speech and the public realm. We oppose section 3 because of the wide-ranging powers and the fact that we have shown ourselves capable, and the Minister of State’s officials have shown themselves capable, of moving fast, being speedy and being agile. It strikes me that a lot of power is being concentrated in one place and this is a serious issue. For that reason, I oppose this section.