Seanad debates

Thursday, 23 July 2020

Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages

 

10:30 am

Photo of Niall Ó DonnghaileNiall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am not afraid to say mea culpawhen it is required. I was not clear enough in my Second Stage contribution. I probably jumped ahead of myself to this Stage. We oppose the amendments, as I made clear. Our opposition to the legislation is based on those amendments being taken as part of this Bill. Although I posed a series of questions regarding the Department and its functions, I hope the Department achieves all the things I outlined. We have a vision for further and higher education and that is why Senator McCallion came in with the remarks she made. We want this to work, to deliver and to make real change for people. We do not think it is the most innovative way to do business in terms of the late hour we received these amendments. That is the point, for the purpose of clarity for colleagues who took issue with some of what I said. That is the point about people watching to see what we do and what our priorities are.

The Minister should be under no illusion. In terms of the Department going forward, we will work with it, engage with it and hold it to account in the same way we do with every Department. We want to ensure we have the proper measures and protocols in place in these Houses to do that and that is why the legwork is required in terms of ensuring, before Departments come to be, that we are able to function properly as parliamentarians and to scrutinise such Departments.

I jumped ahead of myself. I thought I was on Committee Stage when it was on Second Stage and I should have made that clear. The opposition is based on this. At a time people are really struggling, I do not think it is disrespectful. I hear what Senator Murphy is saying and I take his point. The Minister of State will find I will engage respectfully on these issues in this Chamber where it is required but people will be disturbed by the manner in which these amendments have been tabled and the late hour at which they were submitted. Given the arithmetic, it most likely will come to pass that this Department will be established, then we wish it well and hope it does the things Sinn Féin want it to do to deliver the things my colleague outlined.

This has to go through the Dáil and I am sure colleagues there will articulate further and hopefully seek to nuance and collaborate with the Minister of State and others to ensure it is the best it can be. It is not cynical or negative. I hear what everyone has said. Given the fashion in which this amendment is proceeding and the amendments that are being taken with it, it is not a terrible stance, given the reality of life for people out there, that we would take a stand to say we do not think it is a particularly innovative, imaginative or creative way to do business. Most people out there would think it is a cynical way to do business and that it takes away from all of the good things that this Department could, and should, be about.

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