Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle and, for clarity, I did not make a contribution on the earlier occasion. Does that mean I get two contributions on this occasion? My apologies, as I am being a bit flippant here on such a serious piece of legislation, when it is probably not the best time to be doing that.

I put on record my support for these amendments because they are only trying to extend the timeline and limit on the making of decisions which the chief deciding officer will make. The Minister will probably say the intention is to make these decisions quickly and that there is no need for these amendments but, as has been said by the previous speaker, whenever the words “as soon as practicable” is used in legislation, it sends a chill down my spine because I know that “as soon as practicable” for people in the real world and “as soon as practicable” for people in the legislative world and in the world of Government in dealing with this are two very different things, and completely different aspects, sometimes, of how things progress. There is no reason these processes should not progress rapidly so the timelines should not cause a problem for the State in actually dealing with these cases. God knows, all of these people are known and should be known to the State, so there should not be much deciding to be done in respect of what is needed. It is vitally important that the time limits be there because any delay or slowness which is built into this legislation will, unfortunately, be used. That is the way these things happen. For that reason, I support all of these amendments because they make that difference and make it actually feel the State is responding rapidly to the people who need a response.

For the record, Deputy Connolly could not be here this evening because she is not feeling well. She should be back again very shortly. I thank the Ceann Comhairle.

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