Marie Sherlock (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his detailed reply. He articulated technical concerns about the wording of our amendment. We are very happy to work with him to improve or fix that wording. The spirit of the amendment is the crucial aspect. I hear what the Minister of State is saying about the EU initiative taking place and the potential for a strong, comprehensive set of harmonisation regulations to be issued. However, that is going to take time. There is a fundamental question to be asked here. Why can the State not take the lead on this? We are talking about just one element of what will be a bigger part coming out of those EU proposals. It is disappointing that we are taking the attitude of sitting back and waiting, given that it might take a number of years before those regulations are in place in this country, as opposed to moving ahead now. We would be very happy to work with the Minister of State on the wording and take the lead from his legal advisers, but I would like to hear from him on the spirit of the amendment.