Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I am happy to deal with any misrepresentations of the facts through the Deputy's assertions. I have explained all morning that the Minister was notified of the HSE's legal concerns on Monday. On Tuesday morning, the Government made a decision as to what would be required. On Tuesday afternoon, there was a meeting between the Attorney General's office, the HSE and the Minister for Health and Children's legal officials to decide what could be brought forward or passed in the absence of that in the meantime. There is no question of delay. The minute the matter was brought to our attention, we dealt with the issue.

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