Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

I am not satisfied with the Minister of State's response. Decisions made by the Oireachtas as long ago as 1989 cannot be brought into force for administrative or manpower reasons and in the year 2005, the House has not been given a definite timeframe. The Minister of State is not even proposing a different timetable to mine in order to do the business which the Minister of State has indicated it is necessary to do. It undermines the Oireachtas when this happens. I will not make more of an issue of this because there are bigger issues to be addressed in this Bill. As a general principle, it is important that the Executive acts on the decisions of the Oireachtas once they have been made by both Houses. I regret there is not a clear timeframe laid down in this Bill.

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