Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There is no immediate problem. For the purposes of accuracy and balance, what I am saying is I have sympathy for the arguments being made.

There will be an opportunity to review this legislation as a whole, which we have committed to, and an opportunity to change it. There is no perceived pressure coming from any direction, including from the Opposition benches, to do this before tomorrow. That is the only point I am making. Apart from that, the Ceann Comhairle has ruled the amendment out of order. We have a procedural problem. Even if we wanted to do it right now, I am not sure we could. I have not proposed any amendment in this regard. It was an Opposition Deputy who proposed the amendment, which has been ruled out of order. Procedural clarifications would be required from the Ceann Comhairle's office as to how we could do it.

I am trying to be helpful here in giving the Deputy an answer to an amendment that has been ruled out of order, which we should not even be debating. I ask people not to be unreasonable. I am taking the point the Deputy is making. Before we began the debate this morning, I asked whether we could accommodate it. I was told it was ruled out of order and I am just giving the Deputy my view for the benefit of the House. While this is something I would be open to accommodating, asking us procedurally to do it now poses practical difficulties.

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