Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

Senator Mansergh is correct and I must reflect that Senator Brian Hayes's remarks are probably causing various people in the Department of Finance to fall off their chairs in amazement at the Opposition demanding that the Department of Finance's interests should be protected.

It should be noted that section 4 deals with a number of elements concerning moneys, premises, facilities and services, including staff, as may be necessary for the proper functioning of the commission. It gives the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform broad licence to be supportive of the affairs of the commission and to give it staff, facilities and the like, as is necessary. However, all is not black from the point of view of the Department of Finance because section 11 states that the expenses incurred by the Minister in the administration of this Act, which would include all those elements, shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas. My dash for freedom from the Minister for Finance has been short lived given that by the end of the Bill I am back on the leash.