Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I know, and I am sure the Deputy is aware that during the 14 years during which his party was in Government and I was in Opposition it was quite usual for amendments to Bills to appear a maximum of four days before Committee Stage. There was nothing unusual about it. Unfortunately, in the context of the pressure of work involved between Departments and the Office of the Attorney General, it is often not possible to do it differently. In the context of where we are at the moment, ongoing work is being done on the amendments and will continue during the summer. I cannot give a definitive time-frame at the moment but I hope that before we restart on Committee Stage members will have at least a week to see amendments in advance of the resumption of Committee Stage.

We must always remember that Committee Stage is one part of the process. We come back on Report Stage and if people consider that amendments have not been adequately teased out or do not have the time to tease them out, we always have an opportunity to revisit issues on Report Stage. I do not want to constrain it beyond that because having been in this House for many years, it has been rare that one would have Committee Stage amendments published weeks in advance of Committee Stage. It is not because I want to be unhelpful. It is simply because the demands and constraints on the Office of the Attorney General mean that I cannot give a definitive date as to when particular amendments will be made available to me. I hope that we will have a clearer view as to exactly where we are very early in September.