Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am going to speak to amendment Nos. 2, 20 and 24. I will be as brief as I can. It will probably be my last contribution on this this evening. That we would see the regulations is the most basic requirement. If we take the three amendments together, there are different requests in them. Some want the regulations to come before us so there is a period of time where we can annul them but that does not prevent the Minister bringing them into force. Amendment No. 20 or amendment No. 24 says he must bring it in afterwards so we can scrutinise the regulations. I have no idea why he is not doing that. I try to understand. I desperately try to be rational and reasonable and I have no idea. It is the most basic request from the ICCL. This draconian legislation is being rolled over. It will be even easier now as we are consolidating it into one piece of legislation and we will not get an opportunity to speak on it again. Deputy McNamara has set out what the Minister might or might not be able to do or not do under those regulations with absolutely no scrutiny.

I want to say something on the Taoiseach's comment that we do not have time for pre-legislative scrutiny. That was the most extraordinary comment I have ever heard in relation to a piece of legislation in my life.

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