Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

The Senator will not be surprised that I believe the amendments do not add value. One thing they achieved was to keep many of my officials up over the weekend. They were saying prayers for the Senator because I said I wanted each individual case dealt with.

The question is again one of language usage. The inclusion of the words "for permission" in every phrase could be regarded as somewhat pedantic in the spoken word but here we are referring to the written word in a legal text. The overwhelming advice is to retain the phrase. In fact, there is an irony in that elsewhere the Senator is seeking to add words whereas here he seeks to remove them. It is a question of legal drafting or of legal eagles having slightly different views as to the best way to express the same meaning. I cannot accept the amendments.