Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

First, I thank the Minister and all Members who made an input. I also thank Members for the support that came from the Opposition benches, including Deputy Smith on behalf of Fianna Fáil and Deputy Stanley on behalf of Sinn Féin. However, there were quite a number of others. Obviously, I am disappointed the Minister does not intend to support this legislation. I would be okay with that, had I heard the Minister use the word "targets" in his conclusion even once. I am really concerned that no legislation will be forthcoming that will be practical and will have the roadmap I suggested. I want Members to be leaders and not followers in this regard and I believe they can be leaders and can be ambitious. Most Members will recall comments made on the day they entered the Dáil by people on the Government side, who stated they do not have a monopoly on wisdom. I do not have such a monopoly either and I certainly believe that is the purpose of Committee Stage. While I accept completely the point made by Deputy Eoghan Murphy on the value of the Friday sittings, this value is being underexploited because Members are not going that stage further. They are not taking the legislation to Committee, Report and Final Stages. Members are under utilising this Oireachtas, which is being dominated by the Executive. I had hoped this would change but I do not think we will disagree on that point.

There have been some extremely useful contributions and I have been taking notes as the debate progressed this morning. I noted that Deputy Broughan first elevated me to being the leader of the Technical Group. Allow me to put on record that the Technical Group does not have a formal leader. We have people who-----

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