Seanad debates
Wednesday, 5 May 2004
Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Committee Stage.
I welcome the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell. He probably wonders why I have tabled so many amendments that do not sit comfortably with each other. I suggest them as options which could have been discussed by the All-Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution had it been allowed to sit. We would have preferred it if the All-Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution had dealt with the provisions of this Bill to provide for greater consultation. While the proposals in these amendments do not sit comfortably with each other, I want to present them to the Minister. The proposals are the way we should have gone about this business. I do not have a monopoly on wisdom as to how best to deal with this matter but we should have engaged in wider consultation.
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