Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this good amendment. However, the period of time for public consultation on the codes of practice has been disputed by a number of the representative organisations. They have said it was too short and occurred over Christmas, a time when they could not produce the information required. Consultation must be in a form that allows people to receive, digest and comment on the information. I am delighted with these specific inclusions and will, of course, fully support the amendment. However, I think we need to be more sensitive so that next time around, we do not run the consultation over a Christmas period or at a time when people are on holidays. We must ensure that assistance and valuable input from those who are most affected are not in any way diluted or diminished.