I did not know that. An Cathaoirleach Gníomhach will have to guide us in that regard. Seven minutes were displayed on the clock.

I am sorry, and I would be the first to keep the rules, but I am simply going by what is on the clock.

That is not helpful. We need to know when we start off. I constantly make mistakes in the Chair but-----

I understand that.

I understand each person on the amendment can have a seven-minute contribution, uninterrupted.

I get confused myself; I am the first to put my hands up. I was referring to the chief deciding officer and the documents. If he or she requests further documents to help making a decision, there is no provision in the Bill for those documents to be shared with the person coming forward, the applicant. Perhaps the Minister could point out in which section can be found an obligation on the chief deciding officer or appeal officer to provide whatever information he or she has to the applicant in the interests of open…

I have it marked it here and what I have underlined is "may". The chief deciding officer may share with the applicant a copy of information assessed. The word "may" is worrying. Who is going to guide the officer if he or she decides not to share the information? A decision was made not to share how the Minister came to the decision that every child under six months should be excluded because it would seem subject to further clarification from him that he did it for the good of people. He has not shared the basis of…

Do we not get an answer?

Perhaps he might come back on another amendment.

I support the amendment. That the role be as independent as possible has been called for by the joint committee which is cross-party. It is set out in the committee's recommendations of which there are 27. It stated: "The independence of the Chief Deciding Officer will be critical to this and should be shored up as much as possible." Similar points were made in a slightly different way by various entities. The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission made points about the need for proper training for the chief de…

I want to speak to the importance of this. I am looking at the advisory paper to the interdepartmental group from the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission independence and oversight. It states: The UN Special Rapporteur has set out minimum requirements that a domestic reparation programme should fulfil, including that the programme be: “monitored through processes that include consultation with and the participation of survivors” ... IHREC recommends that the Government establish both an independent redress b…

This refers back to an earlier amendment. I asked the Minister but he could not come back in a second time at that point. He might take the opportunity now to clarify the point that the deciding officer “may” share the documents with the applicant.

In regard to the previous redress scheme, which I referred to earlier, it was an offence if someone disclosed the award. Is that what the Minister is changing here in regard to an applicant who got an award under that system? The Minister is making specific provision to have St. Patrick's Institution included, which means somebody who may have gone to the residential redress board and got something but was prevented from disclosing it is now allowed to disclose it. Is that the case? The Minister might clarify those…

It is St. Brigid's Day. Brigid was a significant woman in Christian and pagan times. I try to take strength from her because we are tired. We do not want to do this but we have no choice. We have listened to people's sheer frustration, upset and disbelief. I lost a little patience with someone I talked to yesterday because I thought that person was still hopeful. I was left in the position of saying we will go through a charade tomorrow with these amendments. I then thought that was not correct and I should not do …

The Minister is right on this one in the sense that it is of benefit, but we are all in the position of having to read something very quickly and then trying to fit in everything else we want to talk about because our amendments have been ruled out of order. That is all I have to say. I thank the Minister for the clarification.

Much and all as I would like to let you continue, Deputy, we are way over time.

That is not a point of order.

That is not a point of order.

That is not a point of order.

Is the Bill being opposed?