Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputies for all of the contributions. I will try to move through them as quickly as I can. I will start with the substance of the amendments. I believe we are all agreed that there needs to be as much engagement as possible in the Oireachtas. I have, in good faith, already commenced a process to increase that.

I made a point earlier, before Deputy Boyd Barrett was present, when I went through all of the Dáil engagement there has been just this week and last week. While I enjoy the Deputy’s company, I have spent more time in the company of the people in this Chamber than I have with my own family. We are spending an awful lot of time, right time, proper time, on this debate, on Topical Issues, in committee, in the Seanad and on statements on the legislative process. We are spending an awful lot of time, rightly, on all of this. I have a pretty good idea of where many people in this Chamber right now stand in terms of ventilation, antigen testing, PCR capacity, hospital capacity, communications and exactly the kind of things that get regulated for and that the public advice comes in on. We should acknowledge there is a lot of engagement. I do not believe it is the case that we are off somewhere else doing this and that there is no engagement. We spend an awful lot of time here, rightly.

I want to move to the substance of the amendments. I put a lot of meas on the Deputy’s views generally but also on the amendments in terms of human rights aspects and so forth - I genuinely do. In terms of the amendments we are looking at right now, what would be required if we assumed a very modest debate before each vote by the Dáil and by the Seanad, which would be the minimum the Deputy looks for? It would be 33 weeks of Dáil time. Every Tuesday, every Wednesday and every Thursday in the last year and a half would have been spent just on these regulations. I submit to the House that, in terms of some of the regulations and the time that would be required, that is not viable. I also do not believe that, as a Legislature, we in this House could say that of the 52 sitting weeks we have had in the last year and a half since the Government was formed, it would be reasonable to have spent 33 of those weeks on a modest debate on each regulation.

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