Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The purpose of this emergency legislation is to guard against the worst effects of a hard Brexit. I think everybody in the House has co-operated with Government because we recognise the necessity for contingencies for such a scenario. It is inexplicable therefore how so many of our amendments, moved in that spirit of being prepared, have been ruled out of order. They have covered such things as equality of citizenship and dealing with green card measures to support agriculture. I could go on. Some 25 of our amendments have been ruled out of order. It raises a question for us as to the quality of this debate and exchange and the robustness of the legislation. We were encouraged to co-operate with the Government, which is fine. We were told that we would be listened to and there would be an opportunity for substantive amendments to be brought forward, yet here we are, with 25 amendments on critical issues that have simply been set aside. Speaking to some colleagues earlier, they now regard the debate as something of a sham because it is a precooked outcome from the Government and we are to operate as some kind of elaborate rubber stamp. On that basis, we do not support the proposition. I would like substantiation of how so many of these amendments represent a charge on the State. They have been ruled out of order wholesale and we are very disappointed.

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