Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

My elevation then was a good deal easier than my election this time. Senator O'Meara's points are valid. The definition section of a Bill must describe the intention of the legislation. If the Government had described it as the Freedom of Information Act 1997, as filleted by the amendment now before the House, there would have been more honesty in the section. There is no accurate definition in the section concerning the intentions of the Government. The Senator's argument has merit and I would be interested to hear the Minister of State's views on this point.

We have a serious job. Despite the fact that this side of the House has been resolute in its opposition to the procedures employed by the Government, we intend to take this matter seriously and go through the legislation line by line.