International Protection Bill 2026: Committee Stage
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-18
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Mark Ward (SF), Dublin Mid-West

Listening to the debate, there seems to be one rule for the Government and another rule for the Opposition, with the Minister pushing his own legislation and not giving the Opposition the chance to undertake the proper scrutiny it needs to. I will give an example of why I am saying this, and the Minister will know where I am coming from. Last month, the Government delayed legislation I had before the House on nitrous oxide. I know it is not related to this issue, but the context is similar. The Minister decided to delay that legislation by nine months. The reason he gave me at the time was that he had just got sight of it and had not had a proper chance to go through it. That was the reason he gave me. As the Minister said, today we are discussing one of the most comprehensive Bills to come before this House and we are rushing through it. We have not had the chance to scrutinise this Bill in the way we should. We have only just got sight of some of the 267 amendments. I would like a copy of one of the green booklets but there are none to be found. I have a staff member looking for a copy of the amendment booklet so that I can look at the amendments while I am debating them rather than going on my phone, but the booklets are not even available. That is not good enough, but that is what happens when you rush legislation.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-18/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:39+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-18