Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Tacáim leis an leasú a chuir an Seanadóir Gavan. It may not necessarily be the appropriate point at which to do so, but I second the amendment proposed to the Order of Business by my colleague, Senator Paul Gavan. He outlined better than I ever could the reasons this debating chamber and we, as parliamentarians and legislators, at the very least should have an expectation that we will have an opportunity to debate and engage on matters raised in the eighth report of the Convention on the Constitution. We might debate the matter if the Leader agrees, but just in case he does not, it is baffling why such a comprehensive report would be referred to the finance committee alone. What is it going to examine the issue of cultural and linguistic rights, for example? There is a much more appropriate committee to which the report should be referred. It should be broken down into the various appropriate elements to be referred to committees. As Senator Paul Gavan rightly pointed out, we are due to sit for only two days next week and we only came back this week. Members of this Chamber rather glibly and in an ill-informed fashion have told Sinn Féin to get back to work in the Assembly in the North. We need to get back to work properly in this institution. It is not good enough that, as a House of the Oireachtas, we will sit for two days next week after only returning this week. People will begin to look rightly with understandable disdain at this Chamber if we continue to operate in that fashion. They will wonder what exactly are we doing.