Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister of State for attending the House and providing a very comprehensive introduction to the Bill, which I and other Senators found extremely informative. He dealt with every major issue, the background and the reasoning behind the Bill and the High Court case. I share many of the concerns of other Senators on taking all Stages of a Bill together. It is a bad practice. In December when a number of Bills were taken in this way, I was surprised there were no expressions of opposition from the Opposition benches. In the last Seanad, the leader of the Opposition was very determined that a principle was involved which should only be breached in extraordinary circumstances.

In this instance, the Minister of State has outlined that there is a strong element of emergency attached to the legislation before us. Another mitigating argument in defence of what was done today, which I do not think is good practice, is that this legislation contains no provisions we did not think were already in force. The measures contained in this Bill were already in law as far as we were concerned until a judge of the High Court decided the legislation did not conform to the Constitution. Consequently, there was an urgency in terms of protecting our sovereignty and dealing with this issue satisfactorily. As the Minister of State rightly said, this issue has emerged in recent years as a significant challenge to the State. Thinking, policy and legislation is evolving constantly in this area. I welcome the fact that a major review is taking place within the Department in the context of the preparation of the legislation to which the Minister of State referred.

Whenever they have attended the House, the Minister of State and his ministerial colleagues from the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform have demonstrated a great degree of sensitivity in dealing with these matters. This issue involves many people whose circumstances warrant the greatest sensitivity and sympathy on our part. However, we must balance that with the defence and protection of the existing citizens of the State. I welcome the provisions of this Bill which will serve to correct the legislative lacuna resulting from the High Court case.

While I sympathise with members of the Opposition, it would have been better if they had participated on Committee Stage. Of the 46 amendments tabled, only four were put down by the Government. The Opposition put thought into tabling 42 amendments.