Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

I said what I wanted to say on this section. I tabled amendments on the rent supplement, the early child care supplement, profiling and the information claimants must provide. We did not even get to vote on amendments on the enhanced levy or on any of the amendments on pensions. I reiterate that it is a really shoddy way to bring forward such important legislation about which there is an urgency. If the Minister had accepted the proposal made earlier by the Labour Party, we could at least have discussed all the social welfare amendments and had an opportunity to discuss the pension amendments next week. That would have given us sufficient time to deal with the social welfare end of this legislation. The manner in which this has been pursued does not reflect well on the attitude of the Government and, particularly, the Minister for Social and Family Affairs to this important legislation.

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