Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

As I understand it, the committee, as part of its normal work, would ask the Department what legislation is planned, so that we can schedule time to do pre-legislative scrutiny and do everything we are supposed to do as part of the supposed democratic process. My understanding is the Department told the committee there was nothing planned and nothing was happening but then all of a sudden we have this Bill. In fairness, the Bill contains about four or five different aspects and Mr. Munro said it is a miscellaneous-type Bill. That is fair enough, but it is rolled in here and we are being told it is going to be rushed through pre-legislative scrutiny and that we should not have it. It is probably going to be rushed through in the next couple of weeks when every Bill is going to be rushed through. This is done every year by every Department, and not just Mr. Munro's Department. In July and in December the amount of legislation that goes through goes through the roof. Coincidently, with all of the legislation, there is no time and it is rushed.

The Committee Stage and consideration stages are all curtailed and all the legislation goes through. It is an interesting part of the process and use of time by the Department and the Government in relation to how legislation is progressed. This is not the witnesses' issue as such, but it is a message they could take back to the Department. There definitely seems to be something wrong with how the system and the legislative process work if most legislation comes through in July and December when there is the least time to debate and discuss it. I believe that is planned rather than an accident.