James Bannon (Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after "That" and substitute the following:

"Seanad Eireann declines to give the Bill a Second Reading for the following reasons:

(a) the Bill confers powers onto the Oireachtas that are not envisaged by the Constitution,

(b) the Bill deprives the people of an opportunity to vote for directly elected mayors in each administrative area, and

(c) the Bill makes no provision to further devolve powers to locally elected councils".

The Minister had the gall to lecture Fine Gael on policy at the end of his contribution. He is the man who dumped his own party for Fianna Fáil. Is that not opportunistic?