James Breen (Clare, Independent)

The idea of establishing such an inspectorate is to be welcomed but, for once, we should grant the body with adequate resources, a full staff complement, proper financial backing and, most important of all, arm it with the power to take action where it finds shoddy standards.

This Bill is good in parts but we should not settle for that. The bad should be cast aside and a long-term cross-party approach should be put in place to allow us to meet EU directives and national requirements.

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