Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

I thank Senators both for the discussion earlier in the week on Second Stage and for today's analysis of the Bill, which was searching, thorough and comprehensive. In its technical aspects the Bill is sufficiently robust to perform the required tasks. The wider questions raised confirm the wisdom of the Government in initiating the Bill in Seanad Éireann. I do not believe the type of discussion we had in this House about the future of politics and the teaching profession could be conducted in quite the same balanced way in another place. I should not really say that.