Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

As the Minister said, this is a technical amendment. Whether we spend 20 minutes or 20 hours debating it is irrelevant. The House is intended for debate. As the Minister said on Committee Stage, the objective is to get the Bill right. That applies to the whole Bill, whether in the context of one technical amendment or several such amendments.

We sought additional time to ensure we got everything in the Bill correct this time. We had a great opportunity to change the Garda Síochána into the best police force in the world. That will not happen given the way in which the Minister has presented us with amendments today.

Most of the changes the Opposition proposed to make this Bill and the Garda Síochána more successful in the long term have been ruled out because they involve a charge on the Exchequer. That is a ridiculous point because some of the measures proposed would save the Exchequer money but that is not taken into account.

It is all right to spend 20, 25 or 30 minutes on an amendment involving the Committee of Public Accounts if we want this Bill to be right.

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