Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister of State for the various Stages of this debate. This Bill was first published in 2002, and four years later it is finally going through the full legislative process, even though the three offices being established under this legislation have been up and running for some time.

Our deliberations this afternoon had as much to do with the question of the ancien régime and its relevance to the modern republic as the current issue, and the members of the established bodies might question if they are working in the right place. I thank the Minister of State for replying to some of the amendments. Responding to amendments is always useful and shows the importance of this House.

I wish those who work in the bodies every success. The most important factor of this Bill is that these bodies now come under the auspices of freedom of information legislation. This means we will, for the first time, be able to get some of the meaningful information behind many of the decisions made at partnership discussions. That is useful, as the matter was one of the criticisms of the benchmarking component of the last deal. It is useful that freedom of information provisions will be part and parcel of these new bodies.

I wish them well and agree with others in their congratulations on the conclusion of the latest round of partnership. It will be the subject of debate later.