Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

I do not want to be provocative or confrontational. I published the heads of this Bill two years ago. The Bill has been the subject of extensive public discussion, including preliminary discussion before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice, Equality and Law Reform. It was the subject of a Human Rights Commission report and was then brought to Seanad Éireann. It went through five Stages in the Seanad in great detail. It then came back to this House, where it had one of the longest Second Stage debates in modern legislative history. It then went to Committee Stage. The committee sittings were lengthy and numerous, and on many occasions I told the committee that I would, if necessary, sit until dawn to get on with the work.

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