Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Like the Minister and most Deputies, I have approached many of these amendments with a relatively open mind. I take the point that Deputy Wallace made about a money message. It is a ridiculous procedural rule that Deputies outside of the Government cannot bring amendments that bring a charge on the Exchequer.

I am always suspicious of the arguments made for quangos and public policy because, very often, the attitude that people take to a quango depends on the work done by the quango. To be honest, a lot of the debate comes from a very right wing view of the State and public-funded bodies. Sometimes some of the rhetoric can be unhelpful and not directed at the purpose that a particular body can do. That said, an argument has been made that the difference in the cost of the existing process and the proposed one is fairly considerable. Is it possible to estimate how much the work costs the Courts Service specifically at this moment in time? Obviously the sum of €5,000 does not cover the work that is being done and the cost is subsumed within the budget for the Courts Service. Has the Minister a rough idea of how much the work costs the Courts Service?