Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The Ceann Comhairle said there is nothing unusual about passing legislation on to the Seanad where it can be amended, which is very true. However, we are in a completely unprecedented situation here where we are about to debate the remaining amendments which have not been ruled out of order without knowing the cornerstone substance of the Bill we are debating. We do not know if it will be a commission of 17, 13 or 16. We do not know if it will include the Attorney General, which is a not insignificant, substantive issue in the nature of the commission.

The Minister might outline how he intends to resolve the issue. Does he intend to introduce in the Seanad an amendment to remove the intention of having the Attorney General, the President of the District Court and the President of the Circuit Court or does he intend reintroducing an amendment to provide for 17 members or 16 members in a commission? If that is the case, we are putting the Seanad in a very difficult situation because it will be debating, for example, that amendment to have a larger number of members without knowing when it is returned back to this House whether the Members here would stick to the votes we made last night. For example, would Sinn Féin change its position as it voted last night against having 17 members? We are legislating here in the blind and we are asking the Seanad to legislate in the blind before it comes back here again.

See this speech in context