Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As the Minister will be aware, among the volunteers, people at the coalface or the people providing the service there is still widespread opposition to this change. People are in constant contact with us about it. The Minister will also be aware that the Dáil voted by a majority of two to one against this. The Joint Committee on Social Protection, which includes a number of Members on the Government side, voted unanimously against what is being done.

I do not want to rehash all the arguments we engaged in but the Minister said in the course of various debates on the matter that what was preventing her from interfering in any way with the decision of the CIB was the advice of the Attorney General that she did not have the power to do so. Is that the only reason she could not intervene? If she had had the power, would she have intervened to stop this process?

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