Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his response and the great detail he went into to describe the various aspects of the scheme which he acknowledged that I welcome. It has been a long time in the offing and a long time being called for from this side of the House. That being the case, I had hoped and presumed that the preparatory work for its enactment would have allowed for it to be put into practice much sooner than is anticipated. I am quite surprised and disappointed by the Minister of State's answer, which clarifies what I have been told elsewhere, that it could be 2017 before that section of the legislation comes into force. I had feared it was because of the lack of resources and available staff in the PRTB. The Minister of State alluded to the fact that funding has been provided in the budget for preparatory work and that staffing is not an issue. I am at pains to understand why, despite us and others calling for this for the past two or three years and despite the legislation being in place, it could be two years before the section is in force.

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