Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate what the Minister is saying. However, his amendment would remove the section we put in on Committee Stage. It was debated in great detail and in a decent spirt, I might add: the Minister was there. His amendment No. 87 would remove that in its entirety. By bringing in amendment No. 99, effectively he is bringing in the existing scheme. He is saying that someone could review the effectiveness of the existing scheme. We are not talking about extent or expansion. That is not something that could be accepted. I mean this respectfully. We need to see that it is there.

We could certainly work on things. I am not saying that everything is perfect. In amendment No. 88 we have tried to improve the scope and I think it does that. By leaving the section in, if the Minister wanted to propose an amendment in the Seanad, subject to discussions we would have, to improve that section, that would be absolutely fine. However, what he is asking us to do here this evening is to remove a very important section that was passed on Committee Stage. I grant the Minster that it is imperfect. Passing amendment No. 88 will improve it.

I propose that the Minister withdraws his amendment and lets our one go through, and we will then work to agree on an amendment to that section in the Seanad that either he or we would bring forward. I cannot remove that as it would be taking the whole thing out. We could agree on a shared amendment in the Seanad to improve part (2) of the section in particular. That was a really important part of the committee meeting. We would be removing it in its entirety. I propose that we give a commitment on the public record for the Minister to withdraw his amendment, to let that section stand, pass amendment No. 88 to improve it and to work together on an agreed change to it in the Seanad. If we accept the Minister's amendment this evening, all we are doing is saying the existing scheme is in and that is pretty much it. I know that would be a problem.

See this speech in context