Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I wish to make several points. Proceedings in the House collapsed just over ten minutes before the debate was due to end on Friday. As I understand the matter, everyone who had requested to speak had a chance to make a contribution and the Minister for State at the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Brian Lenihan, was about to conclude the debate on Second Stage. People would have thought there would be no difficulty as regards a quorum at 5.20 p.m. on Friday. That is not an unreasonable assumption to make but 16 Members were available.

The scheme of the Bill was published on 8 February. I was asked by Deputy Howlin last week to raise some of the issues. I was not fully able to accommodate his request but, at least, we tried to move some way towards accommodating his suggestion, which was not unreasonable. While it would, perhaps, have been better had the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Lenihan, made his speech last week, no disrespect was shown at 5.20 p.m. on Friday.

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