Joe O'Toole (Independent)

This Bill is following the same pattern. It appears we should be careful. I am absolutely certain that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, is not and has no tendency to be racist. I believe that fundamentally and I have defended him on that issue. However, he is completely wrong in what he is trying to do here. The Bill is going through in a manner where it has not received enough consideration.

The Minister's contemptuous dismissal of the Human Rights Commission which he established is unacceptable. I find it amazing that he went through his whole speech without dealing with the issues raised by the Human Rights Commission during the past week. That raises an issue for me. He was able to dismiss what the Human Rights Commission said within an hour before any of us had an opportunity to read it. He described it as weak, tendentious and fanciful and by the following morning he said it lacked intellectual integrity.