Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Vice Chairman and, in his absence, the Chairman, Deputy Ciarán Lynch, for what has been a very pleasant Committee Stage stage. I thank all Deputies for their co-operation and very good amendments. I also thank my officials who were up until 4 a.m. in order to prepare for the Committee Stage debate. I acknowledge their very hard work. Very often civil servants are given no credit, only abuse in the media. Of course, we are used to this because Deputies are subject to abuse also.

I have conceded so many amendments that I will now have to have them cleared by the Cabinet, but there will be no Cabinet meeting before Report Stage. I will report progress on Report Stage on how the amendments are being dealt with and I will introduce them on Committee Stage in the Seanad. The procedure is that any amendment accepted by the Seanad must be referred back to the Dáil, even though the Dáil will have dealt with all Stages of the Bill. I need to keep my lines clear and ensure I am not proposing anything that has not been agreed to by the Government. There is a slight change in procedure. I wanted to explain this to committee members in case they thought I was playing some trick on them.