Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)

The final shape of this Bill is very unsatisfactory, in that we are debating things here with approximately 65 minutes until a guillotine, something that we saw for the first time only a few days ago. This Bill started off as a Maritime Safety Bill with several key elements that we discussed on Second Stage, and then on Committee Stage we were presented with a series of amendments. I know the Minister informed us regarding the emergency licensing requirement he proposed to include. Now we have a new Part 6 and legislation to do with the extension of the foreshore, and the Bill has grown like topsy within a relatively short period. Legislation that Deputy Perry and I addressed on Second Stage, essentially as a Maritime Safety Bill, now has added dimensions.

On several occasions in my experience of invigilating this Department on behalf of the Labour Party we have had add-ons. I register a complaint, as I did with the Ceann Comhairle earlier this evening regarding the handling of this Bill. It is bad enough that we have all this material submitted to us very late and in a fairly confusing manner. I appreciate the fact that civil servants have sent us e-mail explanations and so on, but it seems a bad way to do business, given that we have needed this legislation for at least the past two or three decades, and certainly since the Marine Casualty Investigation Board was established. Now we are in the dog days heading for the summer recess trying to clear the board, and this legislation is being put before us as a series of addenda. In my book, that is not the way to do business, and I say that to the Department.

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