Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

That is profoundly unfair in two ways and I would like to set the record straight. Nobody asked that the Hogan report be implemented in full or that the legislative attachment be enacted as an appendix to this Bill. The Minister has a propensity constantly to set up straw men so that he can pull them down. I am reiterating the case I made a year ago and, therefore, there is nothing new in my approach. As Deputy Jim O'Keeffe correctly stated, my approach was not novel even a year ago. It has antecedents going back to the mid-1980s. My difficulty with the Minister's approach is it is exactly what he said a year ago. He supported the idea and he would have liked to accept the amendment but he needed to have a debate or talk to the Attorney General. What has he done for a year, if he has not discussed this with the Attorney General? If it is an important issue, why was that not part of the heads of the Bill he circulated in February and the substantive legislation before House?

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