Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I would like to get some co-operation from Opposition Chairmen or spokespersons and for them to be available on some occasions. Deputies are busy and have other commitments but we need to start putting some time limits in place because once we refer Bills to committees it appears that the committees, without referring back to Government, decide how long it will take them to consider Committee Stage. That is not good practice. There is a lot of legislation we would like to have considered here.

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