Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Tá ceist agam faoi the Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Marriage Equality) Bill agus ceann eile faoi the Civil Debt (Procedures) Bill. I will deal with that ar dtús. The Civil Debt (Procedures) Bill is up for debate tomorrow. It will allow creditors, including Irish Water, to apply for a court order that enables the attachment of earnings or deductions from social welfare payments for the purpose of the enforcement of debt. The Government has brought this forward without adhering to normal Dáil pre-legislative procedures. It failed to publish the heads of the Bill and failed to allow it to go to the committee for consideration by stakeholders. It has failed to allow a minimum of two weeks for offices to scrutinise the Bill upon publication. We only got sight of a draft of the Bill last Friday, and then that was changed on Monday. This is really an underhand method to force through the Dáil a Bill that will pick the pockets of low-paid workers and people on social welfare. It will force more people into poverty. I call on the Taoiseach to reconsider the position he has taken up and to allow normal procedures. The Taoiseach talked earlier about the need for democracy to prevail. Will the Government publish the heads of the Bill, allow it to go to the committee and allow proper scrutiny by the relevant offices?

The Government has said rightly that it cannot proceed with the Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Marriage Equality) Bill because of a court case. It now appears that the case has to go before the Supreme Court and it could be a year before the first same-sex citizens are able to marry. I accept entirely the right of citizens to go to the courts, but it strikes me that the time involved is lengthy, particularly given that this was not only in legislation in the Dáil but a referendum by the people as well.

Deputy Padraic Mac Lochlainn and I have given a draft Bill to the Bill's office to amend the Referendum Act 1994 to provide for a statutory timeframe for 90 days within which referendum petitions must be heard and decided by the courts. We intend to bring that forward next week. Will the Government consider supporting this Bill on sight of it? Finally, if the Supreme Court upholds the referendum result, how soon does the Taoiseach expect the Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Marriage Equality) Bill to be published after that?

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