Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I accept this may be slightly outside the remit of the Department of the Taoiseach but eight of the Bills were on the list for 2007, while nine are new. We have not enacted any legislation in this period. Why were nine of the 17 so-called priority Bills on the list of legislation for the autumn 2007 session not published and now reappear in the spring legislative programme? Is there a reason for this or is it that the Whip is being told by various Departments, and the authority that frames this legislation in the first place, that these things will come through although they do not? Of the original list of 17 Bills, nine of them were not published but they now appear on another list. What is the procedure involved and why was the Whip unable to provide accurate information when he published the list last September? In order to set a record in this session and pass some legislation, we may have to sit longer than was intended. The record in terms of productivity does not measure up that well as we enter into pay talks about productivity in many other areas.

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