Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

For clarification, what does the suspension entail? There have been occasions - and I am not one to push this, although other views have been expressed - where a Minister when dealing with questions on some complex scenarios, although I would argue that these are not complex questions, the committee has gone into private session to allow officials to speak openly and freely. If we suspend, that will not allow that to happen. I can continue to ask these questions. Some of them are quite simple, but I am conscious the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan, might not have the answers because he is not the Minister with responsibility for this area.

The Dáil has been left without adequate representation from Government and it is not acceptable. We have facilitated, supported and allowed this legislation to be fast-tracked. It is like saying that everything will be okay and that we should just turn up and it does not matter. There are serious questions here. We have tried to put a lot of work into this and we need to make sure the terms and conditions and the details of this legislation are correct for the needs of businesses throughout the State.

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