Joe O'Toole (Independent)

I will not rehearse the points I made earlier. I look forward to the Bill being returned from the Lower House when whatever changes on which the Minister decides have been made.

In the course of a long and, at times, difficult debate, during a spat with our good colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Ahern, the impression may have been given that the Minister's advisers were lacking in some way in what they were doing. I wish to state for the record that both Niamh Campbell and Michael Hyland have been superb, on top of their brief and were the essence of efficient and effective civil servants of whom we can be proud. They were extraordinarily good.