Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

I thank the Deputy for his contribution. He is of the view that this legislation has been somewhat rushed, but it has been carefully considered for a very long period. This is a simple enough amendment to make. The deletion of the phrase is not viewed by the law officers as being damaging to the amendment; it is a better phrasing.

When I was crafting the legislation to establish my Department, there was a requirement to look at legislation from the 1920s. Stylistically, the drafting of legislation has changed remarkably; we would not say things in the same way today if we were redrafting some of the legal enactments from the 1920s and 1930s. However, the best advice is that this is a technical amendment which improves the text because it makes it tighter and removes a superfluous phrase. I thank the Deputy for his support.

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