Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

May I make a final response? I will not labour the point but our job is not just to say whether we are for or against what the Government is doing. Deputies Cian O'Callaghan, Boyd Barrett and I spend a lot of time in committee. We take our job as legislators very seriously. Even when it comes to the things the Government is doing that we support, we want to make sure the language and the text is right. For example, when rent pressure zones were first being introduced, that was done in such a rush that the mathematical formula underpinning the 4% rent cap was miscalculated in the legislation as 8%. It was only I and Deputy Shortall, and, in fairness, former Deputy John Curran who was on the Government side at that stage, who noticed it. Part of our job is to scrutinise. If we are not given adequate time to do so, either because insufficient time is provided in the Dáil to discuss the Bill or because we are trying to deal with multiple pieces of legislation that are being rushed through at the last minute, that is a recipe for mistakes. I make that appeal to the Minister of State in the context of this Bill. It is not a controversial Bill but that does not mean it is not technical and should not be adequately scrutinised in a public forum to make sure there are no mistakes, unintended consequences, etc. If he is in a position to reply, I would like him to answer my question. It is a genuine one. From where did these amendments come? What was their origin? Why is the Government introducing them now? Those are reasonable questions and I would appreciate it if the Minister of State were to respond on them.

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