Mr. Jim Breslin:

Substantive progress has been made during the period between this appearance and my predecessor's appearance. We have completed a set of policy options in that interim period. We have outlined them and we have engaged with the Minister of State to try to refine them. We have now turned them into a draft general scheme and heads of Bill. That was the work that was ahead of the process when the former Secretary General last appeared. We are now at the stage where we have completed that as a Department and we are engaged with the relevant legal experts and other Departments. We hope to complete that process and go to Government in the coming weeks. I would have preferred to be here saying we have published the general scheme and that it is before the Oireachtas, but I believe and am committed to achieving that in the coming weeks, which would be a substantive achievement at that stage.