Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)

I thank the Minister of State for his response but I wish to bring a couple of matters to his attention. In his ruling calling for this by-election, Mr. Justice Kearns said that it was an unprecedented situation that a vacancy should be set for so long. He also mentioned the absence of legislation governing the specifics of this area. The reason for the delay is two-fold: first, the Government has been using taxpayers' money to offset these by-elections; and, second, despite calls from this side of the House for the legislation to be amended, this has not happened. We have heard some trite excuses when these motions were put forward. One Minister referred to economic difficulties, while another said: "If we give the public a general election, we might not get the result that we would like". It is nonsense stemming from one situation to another.

I notice that the Minister of State's partners in government are not present in the Chamber.

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