Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

As I said many times, the Government always tries to publish the legislation as early as possible. We do so with most Bills.

As more than half of what is included under the 50 heads of the Bill was in the budget at the beginning of December, no one should be taken by surprise. Admittedly, the child care allowance, which is not a normal element of the Social Welfare Bill, is a new aspect. This, together with some other changes the Minister has made to improve the various allowances, delayed the Bill and made it more complicated. It is scheduled for three days on Second Stage. I accept this puts more pressure on Opposition spokespersons. If we begin Second Stage today, however, we will have three days, until Thursday, to debate it.

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