Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

One could say, follow that. I love the passion. The more passionate about it that the Minister got, the more the Northern accent came out. I do not doubt her credentials. I said to her in the anteroom before I came into the Chamber that she has a job to do, and I have a job to do. There is a terrible creak in the floorboard here every time I move forward. I am disappointed with the nine-month delay. That will bring us to next June and July. At the end of the day, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil Senators put this Bill through every Stage. I take on board all the shortcomings. The Minister was not in this office when the Bill was before the House previously. The Tánaiste, Deputy Varadkar, who was then the Minister for Social Protection, dealt it. I note what the Minister's scriptwriter has done. I marked two pages of the script which were cut and pasted, line-by-line, from the response given by the previous Minister. At least there is consistency. I will not be critical of that. He stated:

The best way to achieve this is to allow the Bill to pass through Second Stage and proceed to Committee Stage and, under the new arrangements, to allow for a pre-legislative scrutiny hearing in order that we can hear from all those who have an interest and expertise in this area and perhaps tease it out further.

That was said by the leader of the Minister's party, the Tánaiste. He made that call as Minister and it was a good one. He suggested we go forward with the Bill and tease it out.

Poor old Senator Leyden. I too spoke to him. I know he is away because I received a text message from him. I hope he is enjoying the sunshine. For some reason, his colleagues did not reinstate this Bill. I am an Independent. I did not change one word in the legislation, other than to add "2021". I have no doubt he is listening in, because he is keen on the legislation. None of his colleagues had the gumption to put the Bill on the Order Paper. Suddenly, a week later, a reference to the older Bill is on the Order Paper in the other House. We know that has gone on and on since 2005, as the Minister rehearsed herself. It is not in the programme for Government either, but suddenly there is a renewed interest in all of this.

To be fair, I would have preferred if somebody had rung me up yesterday or come to me and said he or she was in the Department, the Seanad office or somewhere else and had put a proposal, but no one rang me, spoke to me or came to me. Nobody suggested six months, nine months or anything else. I am a man of compromise. I believe in getting things done. I am not in the business of opposing things. I might be on this side of the House because of the technical voting structure but, on the whole, I do not oppose the Government. I support most of the Ministers who come into this House and I support good legislation. However, this is critically important. The Minister could even have said six months. Why did she not go along with the previous Minister and let it move to the next Stage, Committee Stage? I will give a commitment. I am happy for Committee Stage to be dealt with in three months. Let us all agree that it should be put off for three or four months. Next June, no doubt we will be heading off on our holidays. We are talking about dealing with the Bill in nine months. This Bill will not be heard about for another year. How can we go back to our rural roots in our constituencies and say there is a delay yet again?

If I hear the name, the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland, once more, it will be too soon. It was used that more than any other term here today. The Incorporated Law Society of Ireland has vested interests too. There are conflicts of interest. It has done nothing. Litigation is shillings; it is bobs and money. Too many people in this country have spent too much of their hard-earned money on litigation. It is great. Bring them in. Wheel them in. If people have a problem with their spouses or siblings or so-and-so, it will have to go to litigation. They do not talk about arbitration or mediation; they talk about litigation. Shillings, boy, shillings. I am sorry. Not all people in the legal profession think like that, but many do.

A phrase used by the Minister today is that "mistaken distribution of estates" happened in some cases. Was that not a terrible thing to have happened? The mistaken distribution of people's estate. I have no axe to grind. I did not come with any great story. This is nothing to do with me in terms of work. I just put "2021" on the Bill and got it on the Order Paper, because I wanted it back on the centre stage in the Oireachtas. I respect the Minister and, what is better, I like her. I do not want to fight with her. She is a hard one to say "No" to, but she has to do what she has to do and I have to do what I have to do. I will continue to respect her. I will continue to engage with her, and I will continue to pursue this issue.