Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail)

I compliment Senators Cummins and Coghlan on introducing this Bill, for which they deserve great credit. I am disappointed that a decision has been made to oppose the Bill. It would have been far better to have the Bill read on Second Stage and amended on Committee Stage. I do not accept some of the arguments put forward by the Minister of State, whom I know for a long time. Before he held the high office he know holds, he was a distinguished local authority member, chairman of the General Council of County Councillors, and a very strong exponent of local Government. I would be surprised if his speech were not produced by the permanent government.