Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

——we have essential legal safeguards in place to ensure any immigration system favours those who wish to work here, comply with our laws and become citizens, not those who do not so wish.

Some 40,000 work permits were issued or renewed last year. The record of the Government and its predecessor in this matter is not one of parsimony and is not characterised by parsimony. We live in a time of great change in this country and we must work together in that context. I will draw the attention of the Minister to Senator Mansergh's understandable concern on a constitutional point, namely, that process has not been observed in the examination of the detail of this legislation. The only comfort I can give is to repeat that there is nothing in the legislation, apart from the question of fees, which goes beyond the 1946 order.

Senators O'Toole and Morrissey raised the question of disability. It is proposed to delete the reference to disability in the Bill as initiated and an amendment has been tabled. A substitution is proposed by reference to the Mental Health Act 2001. Before I deal with the precise character of this substitution, I will return to the 1946 order. I told the House that the 1946 order is not being added to by this legislation. The equivalent provision in the Aliens Order 1946, signed by the then Minister, Gerald Boland, is contained in the Fifth Schedule:

(1) Diseases subject to the International Health Regulations for the time being adopted by the World Health Assembly of the World Health Organisation;

(2) Tuberculosis of the respiratory system in an active state or showing a tendency to develop;

(3) Syphilis;

(4) Other infectious or contagious parasitic diseases in respect of which special provisions are in operation to prevent the spread of such diseases from abroad;

(5) Drug addiction;

(6) Profound mental disturbance; manifest conditions of psychotic disturbance with agitation, delirium, hallucinations or confusion.