Brendan Ryan (Labour)

I thank the Minister of State for his willingness to accept a proposal from Senator Brian Hayes for a fixed timetable for the introduction of the Bill. As a Member of the House I would appreciate that.

On the issue of records and so on, when my children, who are aged from mid 20s down, say, "I wrote to somebody", they mean they sent them an e-mail. If they wrote a letter and put a stamp on it, they will describe that at length but the term "I wrote to somebody" now means sending an e-mail. We have to catch up in that regard. The Davos World Economic Forum, in putting us a little further down on the world competitive list, mentioned the declining flexibility and agility of State bodies as one of its reasons for doing so. This is a short Bill but in terms of the mountains of paper involved, we are falling behind.

This is a profoundly important Bill which underlines the importance of the legislative role of the Oireachtas. This is a Bill which binds the courts and Governments. It is a widely applicable Bill and I believe it got a thorough discussion here. I am certain that there is not a single person from the media in the House who would have read the Title, not to mention the rest of it.