Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

I was screamed at as if there was something wrong with my head and I could not understand the issue. I was abused for not seeing the obvious. I cannot understand why all the people who accused me then of not being sufficiently urgent about it are now running columns in the same newspapers giving out shots about me for the consequences of legislating in haste. It is strange. Of course I realise that it is the prerogative of a commentator to be always right and it is the prerogative of a politician to be always wrong.

I would prefer to have more time to discuss this legislation. I was asked by the Labour Party to deal with it as a matter of urgency. I said I would make time available in the Dáil yesterday for the purposes of doing so. I did that. I took on board the Fine Gael proposal because I did not want controversy about matters I was not doing. I know Senators would like to have a week to consider this entire matter. However, we need a comprehensive sexual offences Bill. We need it to be properly thought through and published, followed by a public discussion. I expect that process to happen later this year. It cannot happen until we sort out the issue one way or another as to whether we will have a zone of absolute protection. There is no point in legislating yet again on this issue and then claiming there is a constitutional difficulty with what we are doing. We need to get all our lines clear in this regard.

I was condemned with vigour last year when I asked for a little time — I said on radio that a couple of weeks would not make any difference. Clambering mobs made all sorts of demands. People told me that something was missing in my head if I could not see how urgent it was to act immediately. When I was taking the Bill through the Dáil I said I was concerned that I had noticed several mistakes in the text overnight. However, I get no credit for any of that — that is the way the world is. In that self-pitying mode I will sit down.