Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

I am not an expert on procedure in this House and am not clear whether Standing Orders require there should be a Long Title. When one wanted to move a Bill one had to produce only the Long Title to get permission for it to be printed. It was necessary to state the purpose of the Bill in general terms.

It is not a good idea to have a Long Title followed by a purposes clause because my colleagues in the legal profession would surely find discrepancies between the two, unless the text of both was the same. They will argue that because of a deviation between them one should be preferred to the other. In those circumstances it is better to stick to the present mode.

It used to be that if one wanted to move a Bill and get leave to circulate the text one needed to move only the Long Title on the Order of Business. The Long Title, therefore, has a function under the rules of the House and I do not wish to create a situation in which a purposes clause and the Long Title could be seen to conflict.

If we are to switch from one mode to the other I would like to consult the Parliamentary Counsel on the merits of the idea and the Oireachtas Commission on whether it wishes to do business in that way. It is not for me to make a unilateral excursion at the invitation of the Deputies.

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