Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail)

The Minister cannot be blamed if Standing Orders of the House do not allow us to deal with the matter more effectively by considering each amendment in turn, as on Report Stage. It is for the House to regulate itself, a matter raised on the Order of Business. I hope the Cathaoirleach and members of the Committee on Procedure and Privileges will take this on board. Dealing with the amendments in this fashion is not the most satisfactory way to proceed. It is churlish and wrong to blame the Minister for this because it is for us to correct it. However, I concede the point made by Senator Terry that to deal with so many amendments in a composite manner is unsatisfactory.

A number of common sense amendments have been made to the Bill. In the past I have criticised the Department for its failure to address adequately the issue of asylum seeking. However, in view of the experience gained, we are perhaps learning more effective and efficient ways of dealing with it.

It is the Government's policy that genuine asylum seekers should, in their own interest, be dealt with as efficiently and expeditiously as possible, given best standard practices for processing. It is the only sensible approach to take. I have met some asylum seekers who been under stress while awaiting decisions. Much of this has arisen because so many are in the country seeking asylum status without foundation. It has significantly drained resources for the processing of applications.

The amendments were fully debated in the Dáil, presumably on Committee Stage.