John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)

These Government amendments were made in response to an interesting proposal from the Labour Party to insert a new principles and policies section in the Bill to set out the general principles and policies with particular regard to the EU and other international organisations and any other general Government policies. The legal advice I obtained from the Attorney General's office did not support the inclusion of the new section. However, taking on board the intent of the proposal, the text, "having regard to the purposes of this Act", has been added to sections 3, 4 and 5. The objective was to establish beyond doubt the linkage between our EU and international commitments and the reasons for making orders and regulations under these sections.