Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will come to the amendments very rapidly. Given the importance of the issue, this debate will be watched and all of the amendments will be followed and scrutinised closely, as will the positions of the various groupings in the Seanad. It became clear earlier this afternoon, when we sought to have the appropriate timescale given to this debate, what some of them have chosen to do, and I am sure that will be noted, not least in the areas most impacted by this legislation.

Senator Craughwell has outlined the rationale behind amendment No. 1 very eloquently and I do not need to elaborate further. With regard to the grouping, amendments Nos. 12 and 14 are Government amendments which are essentially deletions of Deputy Munster's amendments on Report Stage in the Dáil. I understand why the Government would do it but I would have thought it would come in and offer a straight deletion, and not offer any kind of alternative or opposing view. It is just a bit of bad form. Obviously, as one would expect, we will be opposing amendments Nos. 12 and 14 at this Stage.