Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach's response was brief.

Last week, the Taoiseach avoided the question put to him in relation to the establishment of a Cabinet committee on Irish unity. The Taoiseach rightly talked about his Government's and his personal commitment to the Good Friday Agreement. Sinn Féin is equally committed to the Good Friday Agreement. However, we also believe that we need to prepare for Irish unity. I note the comments of the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Coveney, during the Fine Gael leadership election where he stated in his policy document, "We need to prepare for the possibility that a United Ireland or shared sovereignty will occur in our lifetime.", and he is dead right. That work should begin as soon as possible. I ask the Taoiseach if he will examine the merit of establishing a dedicated Cabinet committee to discuss this issue in terms of how a new agreed Ireland would look and how we will plan for that.

I also want to ask whether the issue of the money messages has presented itself at any of these Cabinet meetings. As the Taoiseach will be aware, there are 27 pieces of legislation currently that have passed Second Stage in this House, some of them unanimously. These are the Banded Hours Contract Bill 2016, the Cannabis for Medicinal Use Regulation Bill 2016, the Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill 2017, the Coroners Bill 2015, the Criminal Justice (Aggravation by Prejudice) Bill 2016, the Education (Amendment) Bill 2015, the Electoral (Amendment) Bill, the Employment Equality (Abolition of Mandatory Retirement Age) Bill 2016, the Flood Insurance Bill 2016, the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017, the Housing (Homeless Families) Bill 2017, the Island Fisheries (Heritage Licence) Bill 2017, the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2016, the Local Government (Establishment of Town Councils Commission) Bill 2017, the Mortgage Arrears Resolution (Family Home) Bill 2017, the Multi-Party Actions Bill 2017, the National Famine Commemoration Day Bill 2017, the Online Advertising and Social Media (Transparency) Bill 2017, the Pensions (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2017, the Prisons (Solitary Confinement) (Amendment) Bill 2016, the prohibition Bill, the Protection of Employees (Collective Redundancies) Bill 2017, the Public Services and Procurement (Social Value) Bill 2017, the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund (Amendment) Bill 2016, the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Bill 2018, the Vacant Housing Refurbishment Bill 2017 and the Waste Reduction Bill 2017. All of those were passed by this House, some of them unanimously. One of those is a Bill that I myself brought forward. To let the Taoiseach know what that Bill does, the Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill 2017 ensures that insurance companies cannot wriggle out of paying a claim. If a person's house, for example, was hit by lightning and burnt to the ground and the assessor found that the burglar alarm was faulty which would have nothing to do with the claim whatsoever, on that basis they can wriggle their way out of it. Why is the Cabinet delaying and subverting the will of the Dáil, which is that these pieces of legislation would proceed to Committee Stage?

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