Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I will have the first matter investigated and see what was agreed in the report. The George Mitchell Scholarship Fund Act 1998 (Amendment) Bill is to increase the contribution. It has been judged necessary to have primary legislation. In many such issues, like the item we just voted on, because of recent court cases the legal position is that we need primary legislation. The old system whereby we would just have an order is no longer sufficient. We will have a great deal of minor legislation in coming years and if we debate each one we will never get anywhere. We will have a great deal of primary legislation to allow us to perform the function of an order. The order system is no longer considered appropriate by the courts. If there is any deviation we need primary legislation, which makes the system more bureaucratic, lengthy, costly——

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