Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am surprised the Minister is not here in the Chamber as we deal with this legislation. It seems to be a trend. We had the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform who left a session of questions to him with an hour left. Last week, the Minister for Finance refused to turn up for any of the Stages of a serious piece of legislation. He sent a Minister of State who was not able to deal with Committee Stage. Now the senior Minister is not here in respect of this issue.

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