Mary O'Rourke (Fianna Fail)

Senator Brian Hayes and others raised price fixing and competition and the need for a debate on the matter. The Senator also asked that financial institutions inform their customers of the changes brought in by the Minister for Finance, Deputy McCreevy, in the budget. My experience is that we will pay for them anyway and that the financial institutions will recoup whatever expense is involved in informing people of them. It is a matter which should be brought to the attention of the Minister for Finance.

Although not referring specifically to the Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill, 2002, Senator O'Toole said that in future we should seek to obviate circumstances where all Stages of Bills would be taken together. I will refer to that matter later, but I take the Senator's point. He also referred to the need for the House to debate the Western Development Commission, which was established under legislation approved by both Houses.