Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

It is a serious issue and I find it bewildering that Members can find anything humorous within it. It is anything but humorous. The issue of all-party participation is crucial to the success of the committee's deliberations. Like the Green Party, we have been denied that opportunity and, as the Chief Whip can confirm, in repeated representations to secure the right of access to participate in this committee, the establishment of which we have fully endorsed from the outset, I now ask that an amendment be introduced to accommodate the full participation of all the identifiable groupings in this Chamber, including the Green Party, Sinn Féin and the Progressive Democrats, if it still wishes to exercise the same right of participation. Any other formula in moving forward with the committee will be fundamentally flawed and will set off the work of the committee on the wrong foot.

While we do not want to call for a division, we may be forced to do so if we are excluded as the committee would not meet its purpose. I ask the Minister for Finance on behalf of the Government to indicate acceptance to the right to additional participation. I note that the Minister and the Minister of State nominated ex officio have full voting rights in any event. Does the formula of ex officio offer a means of accommodating the need to have voices from the Green Party and Sinn Féin? It certainly does.

See this speech in context