Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

The purpose of amendment No. 60 was to regularise what the Minister is already doing. We welcome the practice of making provisional and quarterly statistics available but we take exception to the way the Minister sometimes selectively presents those statistics and the public relations spin that is put on them. The statistics should be published in full and presented. The Minister has said he will not accept either amendment. We tabled the amendments with a view to having a proper deadline. We appreciate the improvements that have been made but these amendments would have regularised the process and ensured it could not be reversed by a future Minister who may decide that the quarterly statistics should not be made available and that we should go back to old practices.