Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

Since this Government came into office on 14 June 2007, 43 Bills have been enacted. Given that the previous Dáil brought forward a large amount of legislation, approximately 204 Bills, so there was not a large overhang of Bills on this Dáil. To a great extent, the legislative programme of the previous Dáil was completed. Therefore, much of the legislation coming before the House must be prepared and drafted during this Government's tenure rather than overhanging from previous Administrations. Apart from the A list, there has been emergency legislation passed in this session by reason of necessity, including the pensions levy legislation, the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act and the Anglo Irish Bank Corporation Act. There was also non-emergency legislation which was not on the A list, such as the Electoral (Amendment) Bill. This morning we put forward the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill which will be published as a result. The legislation committee met last week and the Chief Whip is progressing much of the other legislation.

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