Pádraig Rice (Cork South-Central, Social Democrats)
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I thank Professor Kelly very much. The time for that session has, unfortunately, concluded.

To pick up on Deputy Sherlock's point about the timing of the session. As members know but it is worthwhile for others to be aware we have been asked by the Minister and the Chief Whip to take Committee Stage of the Bill and that is why we scheduled this briefing in advance of it. We are bringing in witnesses to engage with us on the key issues before the committee engages on Committee Stage of the Bill. We got that request from the Minister in early May. After we had scheduled the session, she changed her mind on it. She decided to bypass the committee and to go straight to the Dáil. I made my views on that very clear: that I do not think it is in line with best practice. It is not the best way to deal with a Bill of this scale. I wrote to the Minister to express my frustration on that and I said Bills like this should be taken on Committee Stage in the committee so we can tease through each of the issues. I have made my frustration on that point very clear to the Minister. I hope, going forward, that we can engage on business in a better way and that we can schedule time to deal with matters in the committee.

Our next slot is a Fianna Fáil slot.