Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The slight is not on anybody in the legislative process. I did not put the six months in. This is the first time and it sets a precedent, which is remarkable in one way. There is no commencement order in any other Bill on our Statute Book. There is legislative process that is denoted by legislation and the Senator is fundamentally right, there are times the Dáil, the Seanad and the President of the day have an obligation to adhere to but there has never been a commencement order in legislation before. I did not put it into this Bill. It was an amendment that came from the Dáil. The amendment from the Dáil was flawed because it did not acknowledge the role of the President and that is all I am trying to do here. I am not trying to fundamentally change the Fianna Fáil amendment and keep the six months which it wanted. We all know it will be passed before the six months but that is neither here nor there. We cannot, however, have an amendment to a Bill that disrespects the third institution's role in the passage of legislation.