Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

On amendment No. 1 to amendment No. 3, I am disappointed the Minister is not accepting even the amendments to the amendment, as opposed to the general view from this side of the House that she might delay. If this proposal had been fleshed out and ready to go, it would have been included in the published Bill from the start. It arrived after the Bill had been published and after the Second Stage debate. There was no proper pre-legislative scrutiny or opportunity to even have a Second Stage debate about it or external perspectives on it. That is not how these Houses should work collectively in terms of getting the best legislation, which is our ambition. The notion that one can simply parachute in an amendment on Committee Stage and say, "You can talk as long as you like but it is going to happen,” is disrespectful to the operations of the Oireachtas. It undermines people’s understanding of how a proper democracy and a proper Legislature work. It is not how many Legislatures work, where there is a collective understanding that the making of legislation is not the role of the Executive exclusively. It is a collaborative effort of all elected Members to the Houses. I intend to push the amendment.

See this speech in context