Seanad Éireann has passed the Garda Síochána (Compensation) Bill 2021, without amendment.

I was going to say that the brevity this morning is because of the preponderance of female contributions, but that would not be fair to Deputy Berry who was also extremely brief.

I thank the Deputy.

I am moving on to Deputy Stanton as he wanted to come in on this.

We are over time and trying to squeeze in one last bit.

We will leave the last word to the Minister.

Will the Minister update the House on the status of the mother and baby institutions payment scheme Bill? Forgive me if I am emotional, but also quite professional, on this matter. I have followed it at every level so far. I am asking my question in the hope that the Government has learned from the Ombudsman's report in 2017, which referred to a lost opportunity, and that we have learned from the cross-party recommendations, the OAK consultation process and many other documents.

I welcome that the legislation is to be published and will appear before the Dáil. I welcome the change to the bands as well as the changes regarding the absences. However, the Minister is persisting with a scheme that maintains the imbalance of power and the division and is coldly and calculatedly directed at reducing costs. The Minister is excluding the babies who were resident for less than six months, which is at odds with the committee's report and what was recommended by the experts - 34 clinicians who work i…

One minute cannot do justice to this issue or to those who have suffered as a result of Government decisions and the behaviour of institutions. The Minister is persisting with a cold, calculated scheme that is based on reducing costs. He is excluding all of those who were boarded out. He is excluding the thousands who spent less than six months in an institution. He is ignoring scientific evidence, the OAK consultation and the UN's concerns about the systematic racism experienced by those who are not white and who …

I emphasise that these are questions on policy or legislation. Members have up to one minute to ask their questions. If they feel generous enough not to use the one minute, that would be great.

It is important that all of the Deputies’ colleagues get their one minute.

The scope of a Second Stage debate allows Deputies not only to refer to what is in the Bill but to what could relevantly be put into it. The Deputy took a generous interpretation of that stipulation.

Deputy, I have given great flexibility.

It is not the time. The Deputy has plenty of time. The issue is with the relevancy. I have given great flexibility to every Deputy, but this is beyond the relevance of what is in the Bill or what should be put into the legislation.

They always do the work.

What is the relevance?

I am reluctant to interrupt the Deputy but this Bill is on work-life balance.

Before we proceed, I ask Deputies to take a second to check their phones are set to silent. I just got a bad feeling about my own phone.

Let the Minister reply.

Deputies have up to a minute each.