Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)

The Minister of State is suggesting that the Labour Party spokesperson and Deputy Ó Caoláin are foolish people who cannot read the Bill but the Bill is drafted in such a complex manner that it does not refer to anything directly or simply. It is a poor standard of legislation. It is not clear what it is about. When senior parliamentary spokespeople and senior legal representatives who advised the Labour Party on the matter do not know what it was about, I think the Minister of State must be wrong on this issue. The limited scope of the Bill indicates that the Labour Party and the Sinn Féin spokespeople are right and the Minister of State is wrong. He should re-examine this and state it clearly in the legislation so that even barristers know what they are reading. If they are confused and suggest amendments that the Minister of State says are entirely unnecessary, there is something wrong with the legislation as written. I will press the idea that hospitals will be included. In fact, I ask the Minister of State directly, will St. Vincent's Hospital in Athy be covered by this legislation?

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