Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

Bills are published having been duly decided upon by Government. There is no set trend in this regard on the part of Government. Bills come before Government and are published. It is then a matter for the Whips as to when they will be taken in the House. The Deputy will be aware there has been a great deal of work before the Oireachtas as a result of the economic situation in recent times. This has greatly increased our workload, a challenge which the House has been able to meet commendably. Some Bills have passed all Stages in the Dáil and others have yet to be decided upon. The legislation mentioned by the Deputy is due for publication at the end of the year, work on which we will try to speed up.

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