Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I want clarity on some of the things on which the Minister of State came back to us. Deputy Rabbitte laid it out very clearly and she has obviously done much research in preparation for this discussion. The Minister of State is correct that this is coming, as he termed it, "at a minute to midnight". That is why legislation has ten Stages before it is enacted. That is the reason for it, so that we do have the minute to midnight to deal with this. Why else would we have Report and Final Stages, were it not for that?

In his response, I would like the Minister of State to clarify if this specific issue was flagged with him by anyone prior to this becoming an issue this weekend. Was it brought to the attention of his officials prior to this? I accept it might not have been brought to the attention of the Minister of State, but were his officials aware of it? Have they considered changes that would provide the type of clarity that we need? The Minister of State can correct me if I am wrong, but from his original response I take it that he is stating that for the majority of communities across the country the permit will address the issue for them because of the €5,000 cap. If it goes over €5,000, it will then be necessary for those groups to get a licence-----

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