Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have no idea about that. There is nothing wrong and it is quite good that there would be differences of emphasis and approach among those on the Opposition side because we are elected individually and separately under different mandates and we have a different mandate. Of course, we agree with each other on occasions and sometimes we agree with the Government. I believe we had a vote in the week before Christmas where my colleagues in opposition voted with the Government against the Opposition. That is a reflection of how the Chamber operates and there is nothing wrong with that.

I was thinking of an organisation such as Society of St. Vincent de Paul. There are local chapters everywhere and one chairman might talk about a specific matter. They ask for a change in a budget and we have to do something. This is what is happening to us and this is what we are finding. It should not be lobbying if the local chairman who is coming out at 7 o'clock of a night to visit houses and arranges to meet a Deputy in the run-up to a budget.

Most of these organisations prepare pre-budget submissions in any event if they are large organisations. Members of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform certainly met representatives of at least 30 organisations to discuss their pre-budget submissions. Many of the organisations with volunteers that we are talking about capturing here would be making national submissions. By and large what a local volunteer would talk about would be consistent with the one that is captured under the legislation through the national organisation in any event. That is not to say we should not be eternally vigilant.

That is the essence of what I have to say on my group of amendments - approximately 20 of them. I think the Minister gets my point but he is not going along with it fully at this stage. I would have liked to have had these amendments included in the legislation, but the Minister has indicated he is not for turning on it at this stage.

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