Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

The National Oil Reserves Agency Bill is due in late 2005. At the start of every session, there is an examination of the prioritisation of Bills for the next session, in this case the summer session. We try to get a realistic assessment of the Bills' status by considering whether the heads have been drafted, if any work has been done on the heads and whether any legal work must be taken into account. In this way, we are giving factual information. Most Departments like to give the impression that their Bills are almost ready. However, I have been trying to impose a rule that we give a realistic assessment. This is the reason for the change. Some people might claim that a Bill would be ready for a particular session, but when I check I discover that even the heads of the Bill have not been prepared.

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