Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

One of the other definitions I would like to get from the Minister is what "in-depth" means. Is a phone call an in-depth consultation? Is it an actual round-table meeting where we sit down and discuss each aspect of the Bill? The Government cannot just fob off what is in this document and it is unfair of it to think it can.

It is wrong in every sense of the word to think that we can take this document and say "Ah, there was consultation. You just don't understand", or, worse still, that the members of the Judiciary did not understand what in-depth consultation meant. That is just unfair and an insult to the Judiciary. We are talking about the most learned judges in the country - the men and women who make decisions every day of the week and who will be called upon to make decisions at the highest level in this country. The Government says they do not understand the difference between in-depth consultation and the Government's interpretation of in-depth consultation. That is an outright insult to the Judiciary.

I have asked the Minister to explain those issues to me. They are there in black and white. The public has a right to know what consultation took place and what the outcome of that consultation was because two arms of the State are offering two different views of what happened. That is where we need to start. It seems nonsensical that we are trying to progress this Bill when we do not know. This was the Bill of the Minister for Justice and Equality, nobody else.