Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, for coming before the House earlier to discuss the Bill. I listened carefully to what the Minister of State had to say. I also thank the Minister, Deputy Howlin, for coming to the Chamber following his important meetings this morning. I hope that what was agreed at those meetings will be of assistance in the context of the overall development of the country and that some good funding arrangements will be put in place. I heard some of the details relating to what was agreed on the news before I entered the House. Obviously, further details will be forthcoming later in the day.

I acknowledge the Minister of State's comment to the effect that the Government supports the Bill in principle. That is what I wanted to achieve here today. I took a pragmatic, sensible and, I believe, correct approach to drafting the legislation. I included a few issues which may not have been the subject of debate on previous occasions. I wanted to design my proposals in such a way that they would be sufficiently modest, far-reaching and sensible to attract cross-party support. We have achieved this today, with both the Opposition and the Government agreeing with the legislation in principle. This Bill was never meant to be the end result; it was merely intended to be a mechanism whereby we could commence the debate. I am pleased that it has done that.

I could have opted for a more detailed and comprehensive Bill which might have given rise to more points of debate and conflict. In view of the level of detail I could have included in such a Bill, the Government might not have been in a position to accept it in principle. Instead, I have drafted a short, clear Bill which deals with only a few novel issues. I will be up-front and state that I perused the Labour Party and Fine Gael election manifestos and the programme for Government as part of my research. I was of the view, therefore, that it would be difficult for the Government to oppose the Bill.

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