Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

The officials are from the Department of Transport, which is the norm when a Minister is presenting a Bill to the House. I thank the Deputies who contributed to the debate, but I am amused by the bemusement concerning a Minister taking a Bill. We operate under a collective Cabinet responsibility system and I would have handled this in the Seanad had I been available, but I was not. Instead, a Minister of State at the Department of Finance handled it. Had he not been available, it could have been a Minister of State or Minister at some other Department.

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