Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will do my very best to make my remarks within the confines of that admonition. I shall begin by saying, truthfully and honestly, that I have huge regard and respect for the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Flanagan. We worked with each other - in government and in opposition - on the Joint Committee on Justice and Equality. I know the zeal and vigour he brings to his task. I wish him well in his job.

This is a poor measure that the Minister has inherited and it is being promoted for shoddy motives, namely, to sustain this Government in office rather than to genuinely achieve best practice in an important constitutional function. It is being promoted by the party that prides itself above all on its adherence to the Constitution, to constitutional probity and the rule of law. I do not believe this Bill would be advocated by Fine Gael in any other circumstances.

It does not go unnoticed that the party of Collins and Cosgrave is being assisted in this endeavour by another party for which - if I put it at its kindest - the concept of the courts would not always have passed constitutional muster in the past.

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