Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)

That would leave a very short time to deal with the complexities of the Finance Bill in the House itself, on Committee Stage etc. It would only allow a short time coming up to the holidays. Perhaps the Tánaiste might clarify that.

The post-budget legislation that is now required and effectively promised arising from the budget contains at least 17 separate legislative measures as far as we can identify. It would seem absolutely impossible to avoid creating a legislative porridge and total mess where nobody could find anything in legislation unless there is separate legislation on each item. The schedule we got — usually a fair work of fiction anyway — can now be totally discarded because of the necessity for the Government to implement these 17 pieces of legislation.

Has the Government given any thought to giving us a new schedule arising from the need for 17 pieces of legislation, a record, to be introduced in the short term to implement the budget.

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