Mary O'Rourke (Fianna Fail)

This Bill is not one which will give rise to hallelujahs in the street, or paeans of praise from anyone, yet a great deal of very necessary work has gone into it. No doubt there were many hours of research, checking and re-checking with the Attorney General. I thank him too, because much of the work took place in his office.

I also thank the Minister of State. Every Minister likes to promote what one might call sexy legislation. If one talks of café bars, for example, one gets headlines. If one talks of the Statute of Winchester 1285, one does not hear many hallelujahs or paeans of praise, but the Bill is very necessary, and the Taoiseach is to be commended for taking the step he did. He will not get hallelujahs either, but without this legislation the entire administrative system would clog up, with people scratching their heads and wondering if should refer back to Acts of 1344, for example, or of 1918, or whatever. This would result in a complete mess.

The Bill is the beginning of a journey. One could call it an adventure, which I suppose it is, but it is the beginning of an ongoing journey which has now been taken up. We wish the best of luck in their endeavours to all those who go down the road of statute law revision. I thank the Minister of State for the time he gave to the matter.