Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The amendment that has been ruled out of order is exactly the same as the Government amendment that was circulated but we have made additions to it. The amendment specifically relates to court proceedings and we wanted to ensure it was technically correct. The Irish Deaf Society with its legal team drafted the Bill. When we looked at the Government amendment, we realised ours was better, so we tabled it. The Government also circulated that same amendment and never tabled it. Now it has been ruled out of order because it is a charge on the State. We all agree on it. There is consensus. The Minister states he wants to bring the best Bill that could work to the Dáil. It is a fundamental right that members of the deaf community would be able to ensure that they have interpreters in a court case in which they are involved. The Minister of State stated that the amendment we circulated yesterday was not up to scratch. We agreed and tabled an amendment similar to the Government amendment, however, the Government did not table its amendment and now our amendment has been ruled out of order because it is a charge on the State. A Government amendment would have been accepted and the legislation would be better.

We are talking about consensus, however, in the areas we have reached a consensus, the Minister of State has not tabled the amendments. That is disturbing. We will see how we get on on Report Stage.