Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Last week, Senator McDowell predicted, correctly, that the need for a money message would be wheeled out in relation to my National Minimum Wage (Protection of Employee Tips) Bill 2017, and that happened last night. I will not mention all of the Bills that have had money message requirements attached to them because I only have two minutes, but prominent ones include the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018, the International Protection (Family Reunification) (Amendment) Bill 2017, the Petroleum and Other Minerals Development (Amendment) (Climate Emergency Measures) Bill 2018, and now last night's Bill. I was with a host of trade unionists in the Public Gallery last night when this happened. Their jaws dropped and they asked for an explanation of what this money message was. An article in The Irish Timeslast week by Eoin Daly and David Kenny got it right when it claimed that it is effectively a universal veto. It disregards how people vote in either Chamber, and if the Government does not want it to happen, it simply dispatches with democracy.