Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

I am sure the Leader accepts that it is a bad precedent for Committee and Report Stages of a Bill to be taken together. It is understandable that it should happen where there is unanimity concerning the legislation, such as with the British-Irish Agreement (Amendment) Bill where we agreed to take all Stages in one day. However, it is clear that there is considerable disagreement concerning the Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill and, given that level of disagreement, it would be a bad precedent to proceed with both Committee and Report Stages today.

Will the Leader take up a substantive issue with the Minister for Finance concerning the matter Senator Dooley raised yesterday regarding pricing and charges? The Government proposes to increase substantially the stamp duty on ATM, cheque, credit and laser cards, a measure was announced in the budget. However, when banks propose additional charges, they must write to their customers informing them of the charges before they are implemented.

Will the Leader request the Minister for Finance to demand that all financial institutions write to their credit card customers informing them of the latest Government stealth tax which it is proposed to implement from 1 January next and giving them the option of leaving the credit card scheme if they choose not to pay? There is a law governing the implementation of bank charges and the same law should apply to increasing stamp duty on bank and credit cards. The budget announcement in this regard is an example of an agreement being breached in the middle of a financial year and this is a bad precedent. Will the Leader take up this issue with the Minister for Finance before he introduces the Finance Bill to the Houses?