Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister and his officials to the House. I congratulate the Minister as a member of Cabinet on the introduction of an excellent budget. In regard to the promotion of enterprise, the Minister has achieved a tremendous effect in terms of the provisions of the budget, which will ensure that we will remain competitive, particularly for the 800,000 people working in the small enterprise sector. The Minister set up the enterprise unit, which made recommendations, the results of which are provided in the budget. He can take great credit for this work. The BSE scheme extended for a seven year period. Other initiatives, of which the Minister will make great play, include the Small Business Forum which he established. All the recommendations of that forum were adopted by the Government and Cabinet, which the Minister steered through the Cabinet.

I understand that with the agreement of Senator Coghlan, it has been proposed to take all Stages of the Bill tonight. It is important that we agree to take the Second, Committee, Report and Final Stages with the agreement of the House.