Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will speak to my amendments, namely, amendments Nos. 75 and 82. They are both in this section. I wish to record the fact that these are two amendments I will speak to but I will comment on other contributions.

I do not want to single out Senators because we do business and we are pragmatic. I will not name individuals, but the record of the House will speak for itself. There was a reference to the Tánaiste. The Tánaiste is not the Minister for Justice. This is a tripartite coalition. I respect Cabinet confidentiality and what might discussed at Cabinet or indeed what might be discovered in the carparks of these buildings with various Ministers. I will not ask the Minister too much, other than for her to assure the House.

There was a reference by another Member of the opposite side of the House to a correspondence from the AILG. I too received correspondence but I do not know if it is quite the same. They thanked me for these amendments that I collaborated with them on. There may be mixed messages. I texted the AILG now to ask if there are mixed messages coming from the association and what the communication is. I was told that they welcome the proposed amendment by the Tánaiste. The Tánaiste is not a Member of Seanad Éireann. The Tánaiste had his opportunity, as did all of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. To be fair to Fine Gael, it has been consistent it is supporting the Government, and I understand that. The Green Party Members are not here so I will not say too much about them because they cannot respond.

We understand how Government works and that this is a tripartite coalition Government. You do not win everything or get everything the way you want it, but when you do, you do and you stick by it, and there is collegiality in what you do. I fully endorse what Senator Ruane spoke about with regard to the amount of time that was wasted. But look, we are where we are. Clearly, Christmas was a break. However, word was going all around the place that someone was going to put manners on the Minister, someone was going to talk to the Tánaiste or somebody else was going to sort it all out. However, the reality is that Fianna Fáil in Dáil Éireann voted for this legislation.I commend the local councillor representative bodies, AILG and LAMA, because they turned up the spook, got acting and got mobilised, as all politicians can do, including ourselves. They realised the people who said they were representing them were not representing them. They realised people had overpromised.