Today Thursday and tomorrow Friday the Social Welfare Bill will be discussed in the DAIL. It is important that all aspects of its contents are discussed and debated so that we all have a record of why people voted for and against the proposals.
Because the Budget is much earlier this year there is time to discuss and debate it’s content. It’s not like a December Budget where there is an urgency to bring forward measures before a January deadline 2014.
We have written to the chief whip and the whips of all parties and groupings asking that sufficient time be allocated for a proper debate on each of the issues to be decided. These measures will affect the lives of Older and Younger people for a long time to come and those voting do require adequate time to consider what they are doing.