Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I will be very brief because I am just endorsing and repeating what Deputy Shortall said. Is the Minister minded to accept any of the amendments? It would be very useful to know that at this stage. Could he confirm whether it is his intention to accept any of the amendments that have been tabled? We may not get to deal with all of them. There is a very short period available to discuss them and it would be useful for people to see what options might be possible.

Essentially, too much of what has happened has been by way of secondary legislation. That has been out of sight and we are just being asked essentially to trust the Minister until next November and potentially onwards from that to February 2022.

It is fair to say that it was a very different experience last year. We did not know what was facing us. There was a high level of collaboration at that stage right across the Dáil. There were also many briefings and engagement but that is not the case now. Essentially, the absence of information is incredibly important in terms of what we are being asked to do, which is essentially to give a blank cheque on very significant powers. I will not labour the point, but it would be very useful if the Minister would give us some indication of what amendments he intends to accept.

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