Arbitration (Amendment) Bill 2025: Report and Final Stages
Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-09
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Thomas Byrne (FF), Meath East

The text is highly relevant because I am quoting from documentation and from what we are voting on. I cannot just come in here and not read from text. We have to be very precise about what we are voting on. I am sorry that the Seanad does not have a vote on agreements that involve a charge on the State. That is the way the Constitution is written - for good reason actually because the Dáil holds the purse strings. That is just the way it is but the Seanad has a role because it has the power of annulment. There is a power of annulment in our Bill if we were to designate other agreements. That is there and it does give the Seanad a role and the Seanad can speak about trade agreements. I will happily come in and defend trade agreements at any point if the leaders ask me to do so.
However, we cannot change the Constitution. I have been a Member of this House and have huge respect for it, but that is just the way it is. The Dáil has this say because it is a directly elected House. That is why it has the power of the purse string in this particular context. However, the Seanad still has the right to annul if it does not like the fact that we designate an agreement. If we are talking about climate change, the question here is on the impact of this legislation on our climate obligations. It is a separate debate from what has been coming from much of the Opposition.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-06-09/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:01+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-09