Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

The Minister of State has decided not to accept the amendments. The Bill has changed dramatically since its original publication. Opposition Members, in all their glory, have done their best to amend the Bill as it was presented to them. We have a number of options open to us at this stage. We can vote on every amendment from here on if we so wish. We have tried to accommodate the Minister of State and the Department by not pressing amendments, except in certain selective circumstances. Perhaps now is as good a time as any to discover whether the Minister of State intends to take on board any of the concerns expressed in the amendments tabled by Opposition Members, particularly in view of the way the Bill has been introduced and recommitted and in light of the fact that we are being obliged to deal with entirely new sections that only emerged after we submitted our amendments.

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