Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

The legislation to which Deputy Gilmore referred specifically in his question is being drafted at present and it is hoped it will be ready for the next session. It is very involved legislation and it has many aspects spanning many Departments which has added to its complexity. I do not take away from the need to deal with it as urgently as possibly. The assistant secretary of my Department has been helping to co-ordinate the matter and bring it all together in a single Bill. The original problem was that there were so many issues to be addressed that they were being addressed by various Departments individually. It was decided to try to pull all of this together and the Attorney General has been working on it.

Apart from this, much time and activity in this session is being taken up by dealing with the economic crisis we face. The preparation of a supplementary budget will take precedence over all other work in the coming weeks. However, this is not to state that the legislative programme is not proceeding; it is. A number of Bills had to be brought forward at very short notice which involved major issues and which were debated in the House. This is by force of circumstance in terms of the issues arising from the financial crisis with which the Government must deal and contend.

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