Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will speak to the section. I also wish to highlight some of the issues that will arise if we continue with the practice of trying to bring legislation through all Stages at once. I hope that practice will not continue because it fails to allow for nuance in the debate. When, for example, all Stages of a Bill are taken together, the Government is unable to bring forward amendments in response to amendments tabled on Committee Stage. When a Bill is dealt with properly, there is time between Committee Stage and Report Stage for amendments to be evolved in order to reflect concerns and to build co-operation and consensus across the House in respect of agreed wording. That is how the process of legislative scrutiny should properly be progressed. We lose something when we deal with all Stages together. For example, in the normal course I would reword the amendments that have been ruled out of order and table them on Report Stage.

I believe I will be able to speak to the issues relating to amendment No. 1, which relates to section 10 and has been ruled out of order, when discussing amendment No. 3. With absolute respect to the Cathaoirleach, I ask that in the future further consideration be given to such amendments in the context of legislation dealing with other financial instruments coming before the House. Amendment No. 4 is not about how the money is spent. Rather, it deals with the functioning of the Bill and-----