Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)

I will not come to the "but" because I hope there will not be one. We live in hope. Is that not what we should do? The Leader is always cheerful about this matter and I thank her for her personal support from the outset. She seems to have done a lot — fair dues to her because I did not request it — and she has been very kind in her efforts. I appreciate everything she has said this evening.

However, I have a few small corrections to make. My good friend Senator Moylan should note that this Bill does not apply to once-off housing, but only to housing developments. Senator Minihan referred to speed but the Bill has been on the Order Paper for a long time. We were running out of time this week and maybe the call was not totally mine. However, we cannot get bogged down in this issue. The Senator is well aware that all his colleagues in Cork are concerned about it. Several of them have discussed it with me and offer considerable support, as the Minister of State is well aware. I do not claim any monopoly of wisdom whatsoever in this matter but I know that some of the Minister of State's colleagues from Cork discussed it with him before the Bill was introduced.

Senator Henry referred to various problems and Senator Mansergh referred to unfinished business. We all know about this and it is taken as read. It is great that everyone is so supportive and in agreement. I accept there may be some legal matters to be considered, as the Minister of State mentioned, but this is just a one-page Bill. Would Albert Reynolds not be proud of this single sheet? The explanatory memorandum is slightly longer. I think the Minister of State and his officials agree totally with the explanatory memorandum. I accept that some fine tuning is required regarding the Bill's drafting and I appeal to the Minister of State to let the Bill survive Second Stage — he probably feels this is a good idea in his own heart. Let us not divide the House on it and take the six months to which he has referred to make the necessary amendments. As Senator Brian Hayes said, the entire House will get involved on Committee Stage. The Government has the numbers and, in any event, perhaps the Opposition would not disagree with the amendments the Minister of State would introduce. Why have a separate measure when we have the nucleus and the seed corn in this measure?

We are all pro-consumer. The Minister of State is concerned about the punter, as he would say himself, and that is why he is in the other House with a huge vote behind him. I am sure he concurs totally——