Mary O'Rourke (Fianna Fail)

As other speakers have stated, we are glad to see this Bill concluded. It seems to have gone on forever. Second Stage was a long while ago and I remember participating on it. I did not participate on Committee Stage because I could not be here. I am glad the Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach, Deputy Tom Kitt, took heed of an issue spotted by Senator Ryan with his eagle eye and which was subsequently reported on. A useful amendment was hence produced.

I have a point which does not relate specifically to this Bill. By chance I was watching BBC on Sunday morning last week. Harriet Harman, the constitutional affairs Minister in the UK, has introduced legislation in plain English. From last week onwards, when a Bill is published in the UK, one side of the page is legalese, while the other side of the page, directly facing, has the content in ordinary English.

Listening to Ms Harman, I thought this to be a good but simple idea. We all talk about this. Sometimes, we lay people can find it difficult to read legislation. For people whom it affects, legislation can be quite incomprehensible. A person would go to a solicitor, barrister or somebody in the legal profession to figure it out.

A person can open any Bill now coming from the Bills Office in Westminster and the left hand page will have legalese — the language of the draftsman, which they love — and the right-hand side has language that anybody can understand.