Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)

The work of the sub-committee was suggested as an alternative to my own legislation, which I prepared and moved in Private Members' time on behalf of the Labour Party. I am disappointed that we are still left with the fact that it is very important that, first, we are seen to act within such powers as we have in the 1978 and 1987 Acts. When we returned a questionnaire to the Council of Europe we said that we had the legal capacity to do whatever was necessary to sustain the assurance that we had given. What we omitted to say in the questionnaire was that we were not in fact exercising all of the powers that we had under the legislation. Therefore, the second point relates to amending legislation which I suggested.

I agree with the Minister of State that given that more Ministers have left the Government than has left the Tunisian Cabinet the expectation that we would conclude on the matter is probably tenuous.

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