Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)

I move amendment No. 3:

In page 8, to delete lines 33 to 37.

Ba mhaith liom labhairt ar an dá leasú eile. I understand why amendments are ruled out of order. Generally, it is to ensure there is no extra cost to the State. However, the reason we are here is to provide micro finance to small emerging businesses, who are desperately in need of this oxygen to survive and grow. Every Member of the House is convinced about this and that the amount of money necessary is much larger than €10 million. In amendment No. 1, I replaced the figure with the phrase "an amount to be determined by the Minister". In amendment No. 2, I sought to delete the figure of €15 million and to substitute "an amount to be determined by the Minister". Surely "an amount to be determined by the Minister" does not in itself incur an extra cost on the State. It is a great disappointment because we went as far as we could to ensure it would not put a cost on the State but would leave the door open to the Minister, in his judgment, to deal with increased demand in the future.

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