Regina Doherty (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Everything the Minister of State said is true, except that was not what I asked, to be fair. The Minister of State is aware that the FOI request submitted by IALPA during the summer specifically looked for the interactions between the Department and experts with regard to responding to amendments and the drafting of this Bill. The FOI reply shows the extensive interactions between five officials in the Department, officials in the IAA and experts in the agency or organisation the Department seconded to do the work for it. What is very telling is that all that correspondence and interaction with regard to the drafting stopped long before we got to our amendments in this House and did not start again. Who were the experts in the Department who guided and advised the Minister of State, not only in responding to our amendments, but taking them and morphing and drafting them into the Department's own?