Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

The criminal justice (trafficking in persons and sexual offences) Bill, which is a wider Bill covering several of these issues, is being prepared. The problem is it will not be ready for some weeks, and that would mean that the loophole would not have been closed and perhaps some of the other issues would not have been dealt with either.

The request for more time came from the Labour Party Whip and that is why the time was changed. We are anxious to deal with it tonight. I will raise with the Tánaiste Deputy Kenny's point, that the Fine Gael Party's spokesperson had not been contacted.

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