Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

Is there any chance the Government would prioritise legislation relevant to people living in the here and now? For example, where is the civil unions Bill, the heads of which were published last year and which we were promised would come before the House on a number of occasions? Is there a method for prioritisation?

The Government has been very lax regarding the amount of legislation being brought forward. There seem to be great delays - there are Bills going back to 2003 and 2004. Six Bills were promised on the list from May 2003 and the latest news is that they will be published in late 2009 or 2010. At this rate, we will end up dealing with matters applying today in the same way as we are dealing with the Statute Law Revision Bill and legislation from 300 years ago.

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