Jim Higgins (Fine Gael)

I second the amendment. I endorse the comments of the two previous speakers regarding the amendments under discussion. We broke last week after a long Committee Stage debate under the clear impression that sanity was prevailing at last and that the amendments we put after consultation with interested parties would be taken on board by the Government. We provided the Government with the breathing space to consider the proposals.

We have attended the Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service where an excellent consultation process has taken place. Representations were made by the National Union of Journalists and the Information Commissioner last week and yesterday by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, the Wheel – a network group for the voluntary and community sector – and the One in Four group. None of these bodies can be regarded as frivolous or vexatious, rather they are serious organisations with legitimate complaints in terms of the thrust and content of this Bill. They worry about the way the amended legislation will affect the fundamental rights established in the 1997 Act.

The Government is intent on pushing the Bill through the House today without amendment. I have read in the newspapers that the Taoiseach said he was open to suggested amendments and the Minister for Finance has been quoted as saying he is amenable to sensible suggestions and amendments. However, this House is considering Report and Final Stages of this Bill without making any changes to it.

The Bill is circumscribed in terms of the 18 April deadline the Government insists must be met to protect the records which fall to be released after the five-year period set out in the 1997 Act. It would have been logical for the Government to use the seven days provided by this House to bring forward sensible amendments, rather than wait to introduce them on Committee Stage in the Dáil. As has been said by Senator O'Toole, these amendments have to be considered by this House later. We are involved in a legislative process which resembles a game of ping-pong, as the Bill goes from this House to the Dáil before coming back again. It would have made far more sense to streamline the process by bringing in amendments today.

As things stand, this debate is a farce and a charade which represents a re-run of Committee Stage. Substantial Government amendments should have been formulated in the time provided for further consideration of the legislation. We could have concentrated on those, rather than regurgitate the amendments we tabled on Committee Stage.