Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein)

When it passes through the Houses, if this person wishes to submit a new petition at that stage, so be it. There is nothing we can do at this stage so we will deem it closed. Is that agreed? Agreed.

That concludes our consideration of public petitions this afternoon. I invite members of the public to submit petitions via our online portal which is available at petitions.oireachtas.ie. A petition may be addressed to the Houses of the Oireachtas on a matter of general public concern or interest or an issue of public policy.

Is there any other business? Do members have any issues they wish to raise? No.

I thank the staff again for all the work they do on our behalf. We discussed at a private meeting yesterday that from now on we will not look favourably on any petitions that go as far as abusing the staff here. They do a mountain of work on our behalf. On behalf of the committee, to Martha, Barbara, Alex, Ciaran and all the rest, I thank you for doing what you do for us. It makes our job very easy.