Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

It is always advisable to be one step ahead of the Chair. Are there any plans to introduce Supplementary Estimates arising from the changes that are occurring?

The second matter I wish to raise concerns the civil unions Bill, on which a report is being prepared by the Government. I recall that when the Labour Party's Civil Unions Bill was before the House it was promised that the heads of the Government's legislation would be published at the end of February or in March — I will not quibble about the month. Is it still intended to publish the heads of the legislation and when will we have sight of them?

The third matter I wish to raise is the electoral amendment Bill, which is listed for publication this session. This Bill will introduce the revised Dáil and European Parliament constituencies. On previous occasions when legislation of this kind was introduced to implement the report of a boundary commission, it was done on a stand-alone basis, in other words, simply in regard to the new constituencies. I note from the list that what is intended on this occasion is to implement the recommendations of the Constituency Commission, to revise the procedures for the establishment of future commissions and to deal with other electoral matters requiring to be addressed in advance of the 2009 European and local elections. I have two questions relating to that. What are these other matters that are required to be addressed before the 2009 elections? Why is the boundary commission report not being introduced on a stand-alone basis?

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