In April the Dáil passed Solidarity-PBP's Provision of Objective Sex Education Bill 2018 on Second Stage. The Bill provides for the introduction of progressive, LGBTQ+ positive and factual sex education, with consent at its core. Crucially, it also provides that the religious ethos of a school will not stand in the way of the provision of such necessary objective sex education. It is in line with the recommendations of the Oireachtas committee on the eighth amendment. In the referendum the people clearly expressed a view on the repeal of the amendment and also broadly having a progressive and secular society.

We received a letter from the Ceann Comhairle last week saying that a money message would be necessary for the Bill to proceed to Committee Stage. Unfortunately, this has become a favoured method of the Government in blocking the progress of Bills like the Cannabis for Medicinal Use Regulation Bill. The Ceann Comhairle wrote that he expects an answer within three weeks. I ask the Taoiseach to give a commitment that the Government will not block our Bill, particularly as June is Pride month. The money message that is required is extremely simple. The Taoiseach simply needs to sign it to enable us to proceed with debating and implementing this necessary legislation.

I can only issue a money message for legislation on two grounds. First, the legislation must be quality legislation or of sufficient quality that it can become law. Second, money must be voted by the Oireachtas for its implementation. That is the basis on which I make a decision on whether a money message can be issued. We have a wider problem with legislation that is queuing up or stuck at money message stage which should probably never have reached Second Stage in the first place because of its flaws. We need to agree on an all-party basis a much better mechanism to make sure legislation that could never become law because it is poorly drafted or of bad quality does not get to Second Stage in the first place.