Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

With respect, the Minister of State has not answered my question. I ask him to read section 15. Best practice, as outlined by the Government's legislation, states, in section 15(1): "The date of the passing of an Act of the Oireachtas is the date of the day on which the Bill for the Act is signed by the President." Why are we doing something different in respect of this Bill when the guideline is set by the Government's legislation? In response to Senator Ryan and I, the Minister of State questioned whether anyone needed to see this legislation in shining lights. There might well be people depending on the legislation being enacted as speedily as possible. Given the importance of interpretation in the courts and the updating of this new Bill in comparison with the 1937 legislation, there may well be people depending on it being enacted as speedily as possible. We may well ask "Is there anybody out there?"

The Minister of State is deviating from best practice and the standard applied in the legislation by suggesting that it should be another six months before it commences. As Senator Ryan said, we have been waiting for this for a long time. The Minister also said this is in the interest of the technological age etc. I have had amendments ruled out of order on the basis of trying to modernise legislation and put it in an electronic format so that the courts would use it. However, there is nothing about that in the Bill.