Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Committee Stage of the Civil Debt (Procedures) Bill will be taken on Friday, and it is to be hoped that Report and Final Stages will be taken next week. It is designed to help people, arising from work done by the Law Reform Commission. I heard the comments about the difficulties faced by some parents regarding back-to-school costs for children. I also listened carefully to the Minister for Education and Skills, who outlined the work being done on book rental schemes and the opportunity to have more affordable facilities for children.

The McMahon report, which was presented to the Minister some time ago, involved six months' work on the part of Mr. Justice McMahon. It is the first comprehensive examination in 15 years of Ireland's protection system and contains 173 recommendations for the Government on improvements to the scheme. The most important issue is having a single process for the analysis of the applications to ensure it is as effective and efficient as possible.

The international protection Bill is at the pre-legislative scrutiny stage and members of the committee will make their views known on the report and how the system might be improved this week. The Bill will not be finalised before the summer recess, but it is important that, arising from the pre-legislative scrutiny stage, the Minister for Justice and Equality hears the views of Members on the recommendations in and their observations on the McMahon report. I would like to think this is an issue that will become more important in the years ahead, and we need to make provision to deal with it in a speedy and efficient manner, as well as from a humanitarian and compassionate point of view.

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