Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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I was asked about the timing and I wish I could give the committee a precise date for the publication of the Bill but, regrettably, I cannot do so. However, it remains the clear intention of the Government that this legislation will be enacted, subject to the agreement of the Houses, by the summer recess, which is the end of July. We are getting pretty close to that in terms of parliamentary schedules and so on. If members work back from the end of July, they will see that it will be necessary to publish the Bill in the coming weeks.

Senator Henry is absolutely right and I agree that this debate is about women's lives. While public and parliamentary deliberations are not confined to one gender, the Senator is right when she says that this is about women, their rights and their lives. I agree with her on that. I thank Deputy Regina Doherty for her contribution on the necessity to bring clarity, which is what we are doing with this legislation. I understand the points made by Deputy Naughten and heard his contributions over the course the three-day hearings. He referred to head 4 and expressed concern about some of the issues that arise there.

I thank the Chairman, the committee secretariat, the members of the committee and all of the Members of the Oireachtas who took part in this debate. It is important that they did so. The Government has introduced a very useful pre-legislative scrutiny process, not just in regard to this Bill but others too. I thank everyone for their contributions and look forward to further co-operation and close work on this Bill, which will be required over the coming weeks.