Frances Black (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome my colleagues back to the House. I am delighted that we are back in session. I look forward to the busy months ahead. I arrived back in Dublin yesterday from Oslo, Norway. I had been invited to meet parliamentarians and the Norwegian foreign affairs committee about my Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018 which, having passed fully through the House with fantastic support, is now before the Dáil for consideration. The week beforehand I was in Santiago, Chile, also meeting human rights organisations, trade unions and members of the Chilean Parliament, who showed great interest in the Bill and our work on this issue in Ireland. It is fantastic to see this interest and support around the world. Many other countries have also invited us to visit. The attention being paid to Ireland as a leader on issues of human rights and international justice is inspiring. I come back to this session more determined than ever to see this Bill pass its final stages and become law.

However, as many of my colleagues will know, one of the biggest challenges in doing so, and indeed in passing many other Bills, is the Government's use of the money message device to veto Bills that have won the support of a majority of Deputies and Senators. Senator McDowell has spoken at length about the extremely dubious legal grounds for this, as have experts in constitutional law from Trinity College Dublin and the National University of Ireland, Galway. I hope the Government is paying attention to these warnings. I have put a lot of time into this issue over the past few months as I feel it is something we badly need to address if our Parliament is to function properly. The Constitution does not hand the Executive an absolute veto over Parliament but, incredibly, that is what is coming to pass. I know the relevant committees on Dáil business and reform will be examining this issue in the near future. I offer my full support for that process. We can fix this quite easily if there is political will to do so.