Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)

I compliment the Minister of State on this excellent Bill. Both he and the senior officials in attendance have put enormous work into this legislation, for which this House thanks them. Senators Coghlan, Tuffy and O'Toole, president of the ICTU, have worked on the Bill, for which I thank them. I also thank my colleague, Senator Hanafin, our spokesman on labour affairs, for the input he has made to the Bill which will soon become law. The fact that it was initiated here gives great credit to the House and the Leader, Senator O'Rourke. In introducing legislation here, the Leader has the confidence of all Ministers. This House has passed more legislation in the past year than in any previous year.

From my experience of coming to this House as a Minister of State, I always found the contributions of Members to be excellent; Senators really forged and fine-tuned Bills. There is much specialisation and knowledge in the House. Having only 60 Members, as opposed to 166 in the Dáil, everyone has a say, as is well noted by the relevant Minister. From my experience of bringing a Companies Act through this House, Paddy Kennedy, a Fine Gael spokesperson, made a tremendous input because of his knowledge of company law.

While the Bill is excellent, its contents must be notified to those affected. I suggest that this can be done through the Revenue Commissioners by providing a short explanatory leaflet to be distributed in Revenue communications. While it is fine having legislation, it is important that people know their rights. Information can be disseminated on websites but the best way to do it is through advertising in popular newspapers and getting the information to those affected. I thank the Minister of State and his officials, and the staff of the House, who have contributed so much to the Bill.