Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Let them do what they will and we will do what we will. Yesterday, we proposed a number of amendments to the Order of Business on Bills that were on the Order Paper, one of which was the EU Scrutiny and Transparency in Government Bill 2013. Unfortunately, the Members opposite did not see fit to make time for that Bill to be debated.We also put forward a Bill which had been proposed by the Law Reform Commission corporate manslaughter in respect of entities and people in charge of entities taking responsibility for their inaction or actions in respect of consequences for people who rely on their services.

There were cases in the past regarding the Irish Blood Transfusion Service when people knew contaminated blood products were being given to women but there were no consequences for those who did not take action. That should have been accepted yesterday when it was on the Order Paper. I do not see it on the Order Paper today.

The Deputy Leader yesterday agreed to the proposal to take Second Stage of the National Anthem (Protection of Copyright and Related Rights) (Amendment) Bill 2016 today. What happened to that? The national anthem needs protection. It went out of copyright in 2012. The Minister for Finance said he would bring in legislation to protect it. I understand some attempts were made to start that but four years on, in the year of the hundredth anniversary of the 1916 Rising there is a Bill, all on one page, 23 lines long, which we could have passed by this evening while the other House could do it on Tuesday, if it so wished. Will the Leader allow time for that? We will table an amendment to the Order of Business to take the Bill today. I remind Members opposite that we circulated this Bill two weeks ago for comment. We were open to ideas or thoughts on it but none came back and we published our Bill.

There is a motion on the Order Paper in respect of cystic fibrosis. It is important that a message goes out from this House to those who could rely on a drug that would transform their lives. All parties should support the motion.