Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)

They include lone parents, part-time workers and others dependent on social welfare. It is wrong that what is effectively a new Bill should receive less than one hour of discussion. It raises the question of what the Government and the Minister were doing when an extension of what the Bill is dealing with comes in at the last minute. It flies in the face of any commitment to serious accountability and democratic discussion on such an important Bill.

What is unacceptable in that regard is that all of the groups will not even get the 15 minutes referred to because one section of this House, effectively one third of the Opposition parties, will not have the opportunity to speak at all on Second Stage.

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