Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State did not answer my earlier question on the timing of the charges next year. Will it be 1 June, 7 June just after the local elections or 1 January? I mentioned earlier that many people are not sleeping, but another group of people not sleeping are those who occupy the Government benches who know what will come through their constituents' letterboxes next Monday.

The problem with this amendment is that it will give powers of borrowing to the Minister to hand money to this separate entity without the accountability about which I and other Deputies have asked. This is the problem. This has not been thought through. There is no accountability at present, and as Deputy Catherine Murphy correctly stated, one pays more attention to the wallpaper than something which has been laid before the House. Somewhere near this building there are probably forklifts stacking books and reports which were laid before the House. There is no meat in this sandwich in terms of democracy. It is a non-event.

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