Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister for attending. It is welcome when the Minister with responsibility for a particular Bill appears before the Seanad, as it does not always happen.

I will bore the Government side by pointing out that it is a specific commitment in the programme for Government not to hold all Stages of a Bill on the same day. I have no problem with guillotines and time limits should be applied when scheduling business. We never seem to use the time we have anyway. However, holding Committee Stage straight after a Second Stage debate is pointless. We might as well not have Committee Stage, as one will not have had enough time to reflect on the issues and to be informed by the Second Stage debate.

The procedure on most legislation in this House now flies in the face of specific commitments from the Government, which is not right. We will make that point time and again, using whatever procedures we must to continue to do so. There is a rush now but the Government has been in power since February. This could have been dealt with.