Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

I share the views of the Deputy regarding the unacceptability of these surcharges. During the course of the discussion and debate on the Bill in the Houses, a specific Senator raised the surcharge issue and pleaded with us to include a provision on it in the Bill. As the Deputy will understand, the timeframe was not as long or as wide as one would have liked in terms of going into the detailed legal implications of that move. However, the Bill went through the normal parliamentary processes.

There was a desire on all sides of the House to include such a measure, which is important to note. One must try to respect the cut and thrust of parliamentary debate and endeavour to facilitate the capacity of Deputies and Senators to propose amendments in the course of debate. Further, one must be open to accepting such amendments. If one was to take an overly-cautious view on everything, we could end up in a scenario where Parliament becomes virtually redundant.

In essence, we included sections 48 and 49 and——

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