Peter Mathews (Dublin South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Troy spoke about the amending legislation needed for the adoption Bill. The deadline is 31 October and I ask the Taoiseach to ensure that the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs and whoever else is involved would do that speedily to achieve the result for those five families.

I understand the challenge facing the Government on the overall budget, and particularly the social welfare budget, aproposthe earlier discussion about the time needed to discuss it. The time is not just needed to discuss it because Deputies also need the time to explore and understand properly the underlying economic basis and assumptions for that social welfare Bill. They need to be discussed and it can be done in a generous amount of time, as the Taoiseach said. As Deputy Creighton pointed out, it is nine hours 35 minutes for €20.24 billion worth of expenditure and savings, and the underlying economic assumptions need to be explored and examined.

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