Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)

I welcome the Tánaiste'sU-turn and the fact he has bowed to pressure from within and outside the House to have some extra hours of debate on this Bill. He is only agreeing, however, to make a very bad situation somewhat less bad. Everybody accepts that parliamentary democracy requires that Bills receive proper scrutiny. That is how it has worked for centuries. When dealing with serious issues proper debate is all the more necessary.

Our debate on 11 sections of the Bill and the amendments thereto last week was good and constructive. The Government side has admitted this in discussion. The right approach would be to continue that debate without a guillotine, or the sword of Damocles, hanging over our heads. I am pressing this because we have made clear that our approach has been to offer constructive comments on the Tánaiste's approach and amendments to some of which the Tánaiste agreed, although he said there would not be an opportunity to incorporate them into the Bill. Let us continue that constructive debate. The Taoiseach assured us yesterday that the Dáil will resume after Easter, so what is the rush? Let us do the job properly.

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