Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

As I said in my reply, it will be a matter for the Government to examine all of the work that has been done at committee level. People work on committees regardless of their party's affiliation and views. The strength of a committee system is that people work to see if it is possible, in the context of the set-up of the committee, to bring forward an agreed proposal. There is liaison from time to time when it emerges that a decision may be about to reach a converging point. Unfortunately however, that has not arisen in this case and there are different views. The reason there are different views is there are serious issues at stake. This is understandable. The committee has made a concerted and diligent effort, which will make a contribution to the debate in any event. It is unfortunate it has not been possible to come to a consensus position, but those honest differences among committee members remain and must be respected. The Government must take all of this into account, but would not come to or anticipate a view until the committee has finished its deliberations.

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