Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I take this opportunity to thank all Members who contributed to the debate on the Bill. In particular, I thank those who sought to support the Bill. For those who do not support it, I make the following observations. The Minister stated he had sympathy for us as proposers of the Bill.

However, he stated that he could not support it because he was constrained by a commitment in the programme for Government to review the scheme in its entirety in January, that all the issues raised during any such review would be dealt with and that the review would take two months. He also stated that given the data offered to him by the Department, with which he concurs, having studied it obviously, the scheme is being well received and is proving very popular. If that were the case, we would not have heard much of the evidence of my colleagues on it, for example, it having only approved 73 applicants. It would hardly have one riding high on the polls, if it could be translated into any such thing.

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