Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail)

In deference to Senator Higgins, he would not have been aware that during the passage of this Bill through the House, unprecedented time was allowed for debate to tease out the issues. Senator Cummins will bear that out. In fairness, I have not seen a Bill where the Minister was so amenable to taking on board the opinions and views of all Senators. Many of them were reflected in amendments made in this House on Committee Stage arising from the Second Stage debate and, subsequently, on Report Stage. It would be unfair to state that ample time was not allowed to debate the Bill and that there was not an ample response from the Minister in that regard.