Michael Harty (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Cannabis for Medicinal Use Regulation Bill 2016 is currently before the Dáil. It is a Private Members Bill sponsored by Deputy Gino Kenny.

The Joint Committee on Health carried out pre-legislative scrutiny on the Bill and came to the unanimous decision that it should not proceed due to fundamental flaws in it. The committee's report was debated in the Dáil on 9 November and the Government chose to reject it, although it had been unanimously agreed by all members of the committee, including Fine Gael members. In his summing up in the debate, the Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, said he would not recommend that the report would be accepted by the Dáil, although he conceded that the Bill was fundamentally flawed. In fact, he recommended that the Bill should be redrafted rather than amended. The decision to disregard the committee's recommendation must have had the approval of the Minister for Health and the Taoiseach. I believe this has set a precedent for other committees that recommend Private Member's Bills should not proceed. Why did the Taoiseach adopt this stance, which effectively undermined the position of the committee as well as the Fine Gael members on the committee?

See this speech in context