Brendan Ryan (Labour)

Without venturing into territory regarding the Minister's position in terms of negotiating Dáil business, Members of this House are not overly impressed with the Dáil's capacity to process legislation. There are currently 12 Seanad Bills waiting to be processed, one of which dates back to 2002. If we leave a deadline in the Bill and say it must come into force on, for example, 1 January 2006, it strengthens the Minister's hand in the other House. As a result of the deadline, the courts and all the interested agencies will be aware that the legislation will come into effect on 1 January 2006. That will concentrate their minds, give the Minister leverage and the Bill will not be put to the end of a list of 13 or 14 items of legislation. Leaving an open-ended operational date means the legislation will get squeezed to the end of the queue yet again. This legislation may not be the world's most riveting legislation, but it is extremely important.