Kathleen O'Meara (Labour)

I second the amendment to the Order of Business proposed by Senator Ryan. I know the Leader has made an attempt to accommodate the many concerns raised by Members on this side of the House – deferral of Report Stage of the Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill was an attempt to do this. That the Minister for Finance is prepared to come to the House today is due in no small part to the Leader's efforts. However, in the light of the findings of the Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service it would be wrong to proceed with Report Stage of the Bill. Presumably, the Dáil will make substantial amendments to it and it will return to the Seanad for rubber-stamping when we will not have an opportunity to debate them in any real way.

We have put substantial time and effort into this legislation and the least we are due is the opportunity to peruse Government amendments when they are brought forward. The alternative is that the Government accept all Opposition amendments, particularly those of the Labour Party which reflect the views of the Information Commissioner and would probably go a long way towards meeting the concerns of the Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service.