Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his very considered response. I acknowledge and am thankful an official amendment has not been tabled to delay the legislation by 12 months and that the relationship is built on trust on the basis of the way we have collaborated to date on it. I and my Civil Engagement colleagues have no interest in ever rushing legislation through that would be voted down at some stage unnecessarily when we can engage with each other with live legislation that can be brought back to the House at any time. Sometimes when legislation is not timebound to 12 months it acts an incentive for us to more actively engage in it rather than saying it cannot be read again until the end of 2022, which means it feels somewhat dead in terms of our feeding into it. That fact that it will not be officially delayed by an amendment means we can continue to work together collaboratively on active legislation on the floor of the House. That allows for a better and more robust engagement between ourselves and the Minister of State’s Department. I am glad there has not been an official delay. I signal my intention not simply to retable the Bill within a few months without engaging constructively with the Minister of State and on the EU directive that is due.

I will make a few comments on the Bill. With due respect to Senator Murphy, I did not like the use of the word "browbeat" in terms of it meaning intimidation. We cannot really intimidate large firms.