Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

All of those things must happen.

It has taken three years to get to where the Bill is now. I was appointed in June 2002. I went through a public consultation process and I brought the Bill through the Seanad because this House was busy with other things. I brought it through one of the longest debates on its principles on Second Stage that this House has ever seen. I brought it through hours and hours of hearings on Committee Stage, offering to sit until dawn to have the Bill passed.

See this speech in context