Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I indicated to the Ceann Comhairle’s office that I wanted to raise a point of order at the outset of the debate. It sits into the real concerns that many Members have had with the way business is being conducted. I know it will be a cause of personal concern to you, Sir,, as Chairman of this House.

Substantial amendments were tabled in the other House that were never debated because it was guillotined. They have come back here and are most unlikely to be reached in the 45 minutes that we have for the debate. I believe there are fundamental errors in the drafting of the Bill because it has been so rushed. It is an unfair of dealing with legislation. It is unfair to this House and the staff of this House, particular in the Bill’s office and in your office, Sir. It is not a way to proceed.

In particular, I want to draw our attention, Sir, to amendment No. 31, which came to us from the Seanad. It includes a square bracket around the word “mandatory” under section 161(7). This is a very important issue because the subsection states:

Where, in the opinion of the Commission, a person to whom a [mandatory] code of conduct is addressed is failing or has failed to comply with the code, the Commission may apply, by motion, to the High Court for an order directing the person to comply with the code, and the Court may, as it thinks fit, on the hearing of the application, make or refuse to make such an order.

Legislation cannot be drafted with a square bracket around a word like “mandatory” because it changes the meaning of the section. How is any citizen or court to interpret the intentions of the House? Is it a mandatory code or is it just a code? This is clearly an error, because this was obviously a drafting stage section where the square brackets were not actually removed or the word was not removed – either one or the other. The square brackets appeared in amendment No. 103 on Committee Stage in the Seanad. The guillotine fell and the amendments were never reached and discussed, and now the square brackets are appearing in amendment No. 31 in the list before the Dáil today.

I submit, as I did in writing to you, a Cheann Comhairle, that it is not open to the Dáil to adopt an amendment such as this. It is not fit for purpose and it is not possible to correct it because if we take out the word within the square brackets, that changes the meaning of the Bill as passed by the Seanad. What are we to do?

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