Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

I wish to pose a few questions to the Minister of State which I hope he will consider. Given the time restriction, I will pose these questions in the context of a Second Stage contribution.

For the Minister of State to say this is simply a technical amendment is, perhaps, an understatement deserving of some type of gold medal. To suggest this is a simple matter is most unfair. The board has serious questions to answer as, indeed, does the Minister of State and his superior.

The dispute resolution committee has been deemed invalid. It follows, therefore, that any decisions made by it were also invalid. The Minister of State said that approximately 100 decisions were made. Perhaps he will confirm if that is the case and, the nature of these decisions. How many of them have been challenged, how many court cases are pending and where stand the applications for judicial review, of which I understand there are a number? The Minister of State might also address the matter of costs borne by people who have taken legal action on the basis that a decision was invalid under the law. I would like also if the Minister of State would address the issue of the advice of the Attorney General, a matter not mentioned in his speech. I believe the Minister of State's speech to be a little less than what the occasion might warrant because he pads it for the first and last few pages and uses less than one page to set out the need for this legislation.

The need for this legislation arose as a result of a cock-up of a fairly basic nature in the Department on the part of the superior Minister who is not present in the House this evening. I want to know where stands the invalid decisions that are before the courts. Are they affected by this legislation? My answer is "No". I want the Minister of State to confirm that the invalid decisions will stand. If he takes issue with that, I want him to give me chapter and verse in this regard and outline what advice he adduces in that regard. I want to know why the claimants to the court have not been contacted and why and how this legislation is seen as no less than a bolt from the blue. No notice of its introduction was given. The Minister of State stated he first heard about it last month, which I find difficult to believe given the dogs in the street were barking about it for months prior to that.

This matter is wholly and entirely unsatisfactory. I regret that I must bring my remarks to a conclusion at this point. This is sham democracy at its worst. The Minister of State has approximately 40 minutes to respond to the questions I have asked and I hope he will do so.

See this speech in context