Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

My impression is that officials in the Department have been put under enormous political pressure to deliver a piece of legislation according to a political time schedule. One of the consequences of that political pressure is the mess we are now discussing. That is the most evident thing here. What I am saying is in no way intended as a criticism of any of the officials involved in the drafting of this Bill. They probably spent far more time trying to grapple with these difficulties than those of us who spent nine hours doing so at the select committee meeting the other day and for hours today.

Deputy Jan O'Sullivan's proposal is eminently sensible and I appeal to the Minister to take his amendment and consider very carefully the propositions many of us have put to him. My understanding is that the schedule for tomorrow has already changed and we are due to resume this debate at 12 noon. We should deal with the issue when the Minister has fully considered it overnight and when the rest of us have fresh heads, so to speak. It can be dealt with properly at that point. I am not trying to delay this debate. I do not want to be forced to take a decision at 10 o'clock at night on something that could have profound consequences for many people and then regret that decision afterwards, so I fully support Deputy Jan O'Sullivan's proposal.

See this speech in context