Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is not the fault of the Minister of State; I accept that entirely. She has been handed a script, which I think she will acknowledge is entirely inadequate. It tells me nothing that I did not already know having attended the meeting of the Joint Committee on Health on 18 January. It is extremely disappointing because we need to know when this Bill will be introduced.

The Minister is on record as having promised the Bill would have been introduced in either the Dáil or the Seanad over a year ago. It is another broken promise by the Minister, in addition to the fact that he cannot find the time to turn up here. I did ask for the reason he was not available. No reason was provided. That is disrespectful not just to me but to this House. It is not good enough. That is not the Minister of State's fault; I acknowledge that. However, it is hugely frustrating. The statement tells us nothing that we did not already know.

Here is my worry. I represent an awful lot of people, including those in the Together for Safety group, who have campaigned passionately on this matter, as the Minister of State knows. There is a real fear that the Government is foot-dragging on this. I cannot for the life of me understand why the few outstanding issues, which I learned about in January, have not been closed out by now and why someone in the Department could not have given the Minister of State something more to say in terms of when we will see this Bill. Surely to God we will see it by June, but from what has been said here, there is no indication. Will we go into the summer recess with no further information? It is a failure of this Government, a failure that lies fairly and squarely at the feet of the Minister, Deputy Donnelly.