Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

I thought I had concluded my contributions on this legislation last week. It was certainly a marathon effort and bolting together various legislative measures was not an ideal way of dealing with this Bill. However, I paid tribute to the Minister last week for approaching the Bill in an open way by taking on board reasonable suggestions from this side of the House — not every member of the Government does that. It makes it worthwhile to do the work and research when there is a listening ear for reasoned argument that will make an impact on legislation. In that spirit the other House had an opportunity to go over our work with a fine tooth comb and has seen fit to make further suggestions that have been accepted by the Minister. I have no difficulty with any of them.

The Minister, even late in the evening, could not resist having a go at the Opposition over divisions.

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