Mary Henry (Independent)

I wish to share my time with Senator O'Toole. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Ahern, to the House and I welcome the Bill. I am glad the Government has decided to take a generous attitude towards the granting of work permits immediately to people from the EU accession countries. It is the right thing to do.

After the comprehensive and useful speech by Senator Hanafin I will keep my remarks short. It is just as well that we are going to give these immigrants work permits straightaway because I do not know what we would otherwise do to keep business going in the retail trade, in hotels, restaurants and numerous other areas of the economy.