Feargal Quinn (Independent)

During the course of this debate I had grown to admire Senator McDowell in regard to almost everything he said and the cases he made. However, I fear he has lost it in this case. He made a very strong case earlier for subsidiarity and passing responsibility back to closer to where the action is. In this case I think he said he would eliminate approval of agreements by employee representatives majority methods. I would have thought that is exactly what any trade union or employee representative would have wanted. Hence, it seems wrong that the requisite flexibility is not being provided here. The Minister of State's wording is quite correct and I support his comments wholeheartedly.